Spoof registrations increasing

  • I’m getting a lot of spoof registrations, not only hotmail addresses; many are non existent. They are all gobbledegook names, eg. “pletcherdvl”, “carpinteyrounr”, etc. and their emails tend to match.

    I have a regex sum/captcha, double email validation, drop down and text fields they have to complete for registration, but the spoofs are increasing daily ??

    Any tips on stopping these or better validating the sign-up form?

    Thanks, Em

    https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/participants-database/

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Plugin Author xnau webdesign

    (@xnau)

    Well, it depends on the source of the spam registrations. Are they answering your captcha correctly? Are you changing it and then they are still answering it correctly? Are the registrations coming through without being validated at all?

    Thread Starter bw3em

    (@bw3em)

    Yes they are answering the captcha correctly and checking the T&C box! Everything appears to be validating correctly. I change the captcha regularly but it makes no difference.

    [No bumping, thank you.]

    Plugin Author xnau webdesign

    (@xnau)

    I see, well the problem with this kind of registration spam is there isn’t an easy way to detect that it is spam, since it appears to be filled out by a person.

    It is possible to build some kind of complex filter that is designed to look for certain things these registrations have in common…such spam has a purpose, sometimes it’s just fishing to see if the content of the registration gets posted on your site…which I’m sure it doesn’t. Most of the time, it’s not worth the time, money and effort to try to block them. I have to deal with a lot of this with several clients I have that run registration forms, and it’s a nuisance. I’m sorry I don’t have a better solution for you.

    Thread Starter bw3em

    (@bw3em)

    OK, perhaps I could enforce a space in the full_name field? Is there a regex for this please?

    Em x

    Plugin Author xnau webdesign

    (@xnau)

    Yes, if you want one and only one space, do something like this:

    #^\pL+[ ]\pL+$#

    If you want to allow more than one space (like for three names) do this:

    #^\pL+[ ][\pL ]+$#

    Be sure to test these with typical examples, but it should allow all international characters.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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