Fraud activity

[Professor12]

Is there any other affiliate program manages out there that have dealt with fraud activity on their affiliate programs?

We have just banned 3 affiliates for using stolen credit cards and other fraudulent activity.
Have found that most of theres affiliates are from the Philippines. anyone else come across this problem before?

Just had one guy trying the same credit card under different names. haha, i dont think that he knew that we can see all transactions that are being processed...

Have had to really crack down on affiliates now!

Just looking for some advice as to what to look for when accept affiliates.

 

[remac22]

It's really tough, I used to run an affiliate program on Linkshare and the majority of the affiliates that we got were pulling all sorts of nonsense, and it seems like the only way they knew how to promote was through SEO for ___ coupons or ___ discounts etc. What's the point when they're only cannibalizing your current sales?

I will say for one thing that Linkshare did close to nothing to protect us from affiliate fraud in terms of them bidding on our prohibited keywords or anything else. It was an uphill battle the whole time, and I felt like I had to verify every damn transaction myself. Ended up canceling the program because it was such a distraction. Hopefully you have better luck!

 

[elitemarketer]

Right now for one of my affiliate programs, I require that before the person actually becomes a customer first. Then after 45 days, they are allowed to become an affiliate. I require that they are from the USA and that they complete a phone call interview before becoming an affiliate.

 

[Professor12]

Right now for one of my affiliate programs, I require that before the person actually becomes a customer first. Then after 45 days, they are allowed to become an affiliate. I require that they are from the USA and that they complete a phone call interview before becoming an affiliate.

Yes I have made it a requirement now that when an affiliate signs up they have to contact me and answer some questions about their traffic before I activate their account. A phone call interview is not a bad idea i may just use that thanks.

 

[Tradz]

Phone call to them is an option, but if they know what there doing they will set up an online number for you to call..

A method you can use to catch them out is go to binbase.com enter the first 6 digits of the card they use..get the bank name.. call them and ask them what bank there card is associated with, if there is hesitation/delay, its the fraudster checking it on the site your looking at, thats if they know about it.

 

[195471]

We have just banned 3 affiliates for using stolen credit cards and other fraudulent activity.

I'm curious to know how you determined that it was the affiliates themselves who used the stolen credit cards. I once got banned from an affiliate program because someone who bought through my link had used a stolen card, and I'm the one who got accused of fraud, yet I had no control over who clicked on my links. This is one reason why I no longer do affiliate marketing. I appreciate where you're coming from in terms of rogue affiliates, but there are rogue customers, too. Just ask any ebay seller. irate:

 

[Professor12]

I'm curious to know how you determined that it was the affiliates themselves who used the stolen credit cards. I once got banned from an affiliate program because someone who bought through my link had used a stolen card, and I'm the one who got accused of fraud, yet I had no control over who clicked on my links. This is one reason why I no longer do affiliate marketing. I appreciate where you're coming from in terms of rogue affiliates, but there are rogue customers, too. Just ask any ebay seller. irate:

I can understand where you are coming from. We determined that it was the affiliate for 2 of them because they had no traffic at all. No unique clicks no free join profiles. so the statistics looked very suspicious to us. For the other affiliate All 8 joins were done with stolen credit cards, non of the joins were real. the profiles that were filled out were clearly fake. and the profiles that they made and paid with, after they paid there was no activity on the site with that paid activity. Usually when you pay for something you are going to use it right away. so that was a big red flag. If it was an affiliate that had sent 10 paid joins and only 1 was fraud then we know that it is not the affiliate that is doing it.

 

[bizguy]

So you got shafted with fraud chargebacks? OUCH