Many companies are increasingly turning to online marketing to generate leads. However, this trend has created an opportunity for fraudsters to earn money illicitly. Generating fake leads continues to become more sophisticated in the digital age. The globalization of the digital world has increased the number of tools, devices, and channels through which fraudsters can execute. Fraudsters have access to several tools that can fraudulently submit leads with stolen user data behind proxies. Fraudulent practices drain the company’s financial resources, waste time, and lead to the loss of valuable sales opportunities.
Prevention of Lead Fraudulent Practices
Check Bot Traffic
Steps for detecting and minimizing lead generation fraud should occur during all stages but preventing bad actors before they enter the system helps eliminate fraud risks. Checking traffic for any bot patterns is an accurate indicator to detect and prevent fraudulent practices. Fraudsters frequently use bot programs because it allows them to complete repetitive tasks quickly to submit fake leads and earn commissions. Companies can rely on device behavior and frequency of submissions to identify suspicious leads. With the rise of fraudulent lead practices rising globally, businesses must implement secure and adaptable prevention strategies.
IPQS, an anti-fraud tool, provides a comprehensive guide for preventing bots from submitting forms to help entrepreneurs understand bot behavior. The tool helps businesses detect bad bots, including those resembling human behaviors, by deploying a script on the landing pages and forms. Controlling landing pages enables businesses to add fraud detection tags, monitor traffic, and generate a metric based on first-hand data. Subsequently, creating a unique identifier in each landing page visit helps companies track and reject fraudulent visits.
Connections and Devices
A two-pronged approach that focuses on connection and device characteristics helps determine the likelihood of fraud. Fraudsters use proxies to obscure their locations to submit lead forms. As a result, the business follows up on those leads. Reaching people who have not given consent to be contacted may increase litigation risks due to violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Businesses can identify potential fraud by tracking IP addresses for new form submissions from leads. Multiple conversions from the same IP address or user within a short timeframe could indicate fraud.
Although more sophisticated fraudsters use virtual private networks (VPN) and proxies to disguise fraud, looking for repeat IP addresses can help identify fraud attempts. Multiple conversions from the same IP address are a strong indicator of a fraudster. For instance, a hundred visits on a page by one IP address over a short time frame could indicate fraud or a bot filling a form many times. Besides, a lead with an IP address from outside the company’s targeted geographic range indicates lead fraud.
Validation and Verification of User Data
Validation and verification prevent fraud by checking the status and authenticity of data, including email addresses and phone numbers. Validating visitors’ traffic lets businesses know which leads are generated from bots. CAPTCHA only stops bots that are unable to solve it successfully. Firms placing CAPTCHA on the lead generation forms fail to realize that the human workforce generates fraudulent leads. Therefore, the data fields of the submitted leads should undergo verification. Verification of user data involves examining whether the provided information, including zip code, geo-location, and postal address match.
Combining validation methods and verification of lead generation data can help businesses calculate a fraud score for each lead and identify fraudulent affiliates sending fake leads. Measuring and scoring the likelihood of fraudulent lead practices give transparency to eliminate bad actors in their system. Scoring fraud exposes any potential risk or malicious behavior patterns. Validating each lead with accurate risk scores helps businesses identify leads associated with fraudulent practices. Besides, lead generation scoring provides risk insight to indicate whether the information was gathered by illegitimate methods or fraudulently submitted.
Conclusion
Fraudulent lead is a global issue with substantial financial consequences that hurt businesses and ruin brand image. Implementing prevention measures is a necessity in the modern business world to prevent the likelihood of being targeted by fraudsters. With the increasing level and sophistication of fraudulent attacks, all companies need to be vigilant to prevent fraud. Businesses need to avoid fraudulent lead practices in real-time proactively.