Re: How to report and block a SPAM fake "customer" creating multiple accounts

How to report and block a SPAM fake "customer" creating multiple accounts

infinitebronze
Visitor
1 0 2

I was reviewing my list of customers & noticed that this man, Mark Mustermann, has created 20something accounts in multiple locations with subscriptions to receive email marketing on all of them. Of course I know its SPAM but is there a way to report and/or block this "person" from accessing my website? Im trying to avoid any potential harm to my account!

Replies 16 (16)

Daniela-M
Shopify Partner
22 1 51

Hi @infinitebronze ,

 

I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing such issues with spam accounts!

 

I've heard of apps like Fraud Filter and Blockade that could be useful in the long run for building blacklists based on specific consumer information:

https://apps.shopify.com/fraud-filter/reviews, and even country or IP addresses: https://apps.shopify.com/country-blocker-1/reviews, https://apps.shopify.com/blockadeor/reviews.

 

Hope this helps you to further explore!

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Victoria
Shopify Staff (Retired)
2398 162 290

Hi, @infinitebronze.

 

Thanks for reaching out and sharing your question in the community!

 

You mentioned that you've noticed a customer has created multiple accounts in multiple locations to receive email marketing. I understand this is not ideal and truly recognize the importance of protecting your account. Rest assured, I'll share some great resources and apps to assist you. 

 

This sounds to be a bot/spam causing a high number of created accounts. Bots are able to create multiple customers and abandoned checkouts. Unfortunately, there is no way to completely block all bot traffic or actions on a storefront. However, there are some options that can help minimize the flow of bots/spam in your store.

Once logged into your Shopify admin, head to the Online Store > Preferences > Spam Protection section. You're able to enable spam protection for the following:

 

  • Enable Google reCAPTCHA on contact and comment forms.
  • Enable Google reCAPTCHA on login, create account and password recovery pages.

For better visibility, there's a screenshot below of this specific section.

 

17-10-38407-45865

 

As, @Daniela-M has mentioned, apps like Fraud Filter and Blockade can help you create specific filters to flag suspicious orders, block known customers and add an additional layer of security to your store. Feel free to browse our App Store for additional bot-blocking apps. We have an insightful Fraud Filters resource in our help center for more information on the app and its benefits. 

 

Below is a list of additional ways Fraud Filter can help protect your business:

 

  • Restrict checkout to only certain customers.
  • Prevent certain customers from ordering.
  • Prevent customers from a particular referring site from ordering.
  • Prevent certain brands of credit cards from checking out.
  • Warn you of potentially fraudulent orders or cancel orders outright.

 

We also have a Shopify Blog article on 5 Strategies for Ecommerce Fraud Prevention. Take a look at some additional ways to help protect your store and more information on fraud prevention.

 

Let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns!

Victoria | Shopify 
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aimeejac
Tourist
4 0 7

Hello Victoria, looks like this is related to https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/who-is-mark-mustermann/m-p/1415526 

I've got both the Spam Protection items enabled as you've shown here and yet this same Mark Mustermann shows up a couple times a month with 20 or so new Customer entries from different locations which I manually delete in Shopify and in my CRM tool. I don't think anyone from Shopify has addressed it in the above mentioned thread and it sure seems like people would appreciate it if you were able to lend a hand.

Victoria
Shopify Staff (Retired)
2398 162 290

Hi, @aimeejac.

 

Thank you for reaching out and joining in on the thread!

 

Shopify is constantly improving the security of the platform and consistently flagging spam emails. 

 

We're aware of these instances and are preventing them from being a problem for merchants. The emails should no longer actually send out. Your Shopify admin may indicate they are sending but courier can be checked to see if they actually sent.

 

This shouldn't have a negative impact on any of your email sending and we're also thoroughly looking into making sure abandoned checkouts don't show up. We're investigating these instances and are looking at getting this resolved.

Victoria | Shopify 
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 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

myra24
Tourist
12 0 1

Hi,

 

You may try using a free fraud prevention app to filter out the spammers. You can filter out the spammers by using IP validation, email validation, and so on.

 

You can also require a SMS verification before checkout to authenticate the user's identity.

 

Hope it helps.

RomanRetail
Visitor
1 0 0

I have the same issue! Mark Mustermann!

I'm not sure what the point of this is, maybe an ad clicker to use up all your ad spend?

(Wouldn't let me upload a jpg so I uploaded a ppt of the screenshot.)

 

Are you trying any of the fraud blocking apps?

RachaelH
Visitor
2 0 1

Hi RomanRetail! Same thing... Mark Mustermann with several VPNs. 

 

Vanderhyden24
Excursionist
33 1 19

Same with ours this person using many VPN Ip I am fed up of this person that is doing this daily in very hour on our website.

Vanderhyden24
Excursionist
33 1 19

I am also getting this same Mark Musterman or John Smith, Jonty Smith signing up on our website making fake abundant checkouts on our website. I reported this to Shopify and they got the nerves to tell me that this person doing no harm to our site what arrogant nonsense?

ModernAV
Shopify Partner
64 0 28

Same here! Just deleted 25 accounts of Mustermann Ha!

Vanderhyden24
Excursionist
33 1 19

I wish all the merchants on Shopify who is being affected by this these fake signup take some action as one body to get solutions. Shopify support isn't helping this situation they are just more frustration to merchants when reporting this issue to support team. 

Joes_Closet
Tourist
3 0 2

He’s back again. This time as John Smith. I have to delete 2-5 accounts daily with this name and they use @fakemail email addresses. 

ModernAV
Shopify Partner
64 0 28
Same here....

US_John Smith
Vanderhyden24
Excursionist
33 1 19

Yep and using Google addresses and their phone number it's very annoying 

MTB-Greg
Tourist
12 0 23

I'm pretty sure this is a Google bot checking your website data matches the data in the feeds your website is submitting.

Vanderhyden24
Excursionist
33 1 19

Yes it's a bot from Google however,  it's a real individual who is behind the fake accounts. I wish of of us merchants who are also affected by this can do something about it as 1 body!