# Built-In Fraud Detection

> Protect your affiliate program with self-referral blocking, IP rate limiting, Proxy-header detection, bot filtering, and duplicate referral prevention.

- Canonical: <https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/fraud-detection/>
- HTML version: <https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/fraud-detection/>

---

- [Overview](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/)
- [Features](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/)

  [All Features](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/)
  [Tracking & Analytics](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/tracking/)
  [Commission System](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/commissions/)
  [Fraud Detection](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/fraud-detection/)
  [Affiliate Dashboard](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/affiliate-dashboard/)
  [Automated Payouts](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/payouts/)
  [Multi-Tier Commissions](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/multi-tier-commissions/)
- [Compare](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/compare/)

  [All Comparisons](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/compare/)
  [vs AffiliateWP](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/vs-affiliatewp/)
  [vs SliceWP](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/vs-slicewp/)
  [vs Rewardful](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/vs-rewardful/)
  [vs Tapfiliate](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/vs-tapfiliate/)
  [vs Refersion](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/vs-refersion/)
- [Pricing](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/pricing/)
- [Docs](https://royalplugins.com/support/royal-affiliate/)

Overview
All Features
— Tracking & Analytics
— Commission System
— Fraud Detection
— Affiliate Dashboard
— Automated Payouts
— Multi-Tier Commissions
All Comparisons
— vs AffiliateWP
— vs SliceWP
— vs Rewardful
— vs Tapfiliate
— vs Refersion
Pricing
Documentation

Pro Feature

Protect your affiliate program from abuse with self-referral blocking, IP rate limiting, Proxy-header detection, bot filtering, and duplicate referral prevention. Complete fraud log with severity levels and context tracking.

By Jameson · Founder & Lead Developer

[Get Royal Affiliate Pro](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/pricing/)

## 6 Layers of Protection

Royal Affiliate Pro defends your program with multiple overlapping safeguards. Each layer catches what the others might miss, ensuring no fraudulent activity slips through.

### Self-Referral Blocking

Automatically detects when affiliates try to earn commissions on their own purchases. Blocks by user ID and email matching.

### IP Rate Limiting

Configure maximum clicks allowed per IP per day. Excessive clicks are flagged and blocked, preventing click fraud schemes.

### Proxy-Header Detection

Inspects HTTP headers (X-Forwarded-For, Via, Client-IP) for proxy relay signatures and blocks private/reserved IP ranges that can indicate masked traffic. Header-based detection catches most transparent proxies and misconfigured VPNs — pair with a third-party IP-intelligence API for full commercial VPN coverage.

### Bot Detection

User agent analysis identifies automated bot traffic. Known bot signatures are blocked before they can generate fake referrals.

### Duplicate Prevention

Prevents double-crediting by checking reference IDs and cookies. The same order can never generate duplicate commission records.

### Fraud Activity Log

Complete audit trail with severity levels (low, medium, high), fraud type categories, timestamps, IP addresses, user agents, and referrer URLs.

## How Fraud Detection Works

Every referral click passes through the fraud engine before it can generate a commission. The process is automatic and invisible to legitimate visitors.

1

### Visitor Clicks a Referral Link

A potential customer clicks an affiliate referral link on social media, a blog post, email, or any other channel. The click is intercepted by the fraud engine before tracking begins.

2

### Multi-Layer Verification

The system checks IP rate limits, proxy headers, and bot signatures in parallel. Each check runs independently so no single point of failure can bypass protection.

3

### Flagged Clicks Are Logged

If any check flags the click, it is logged in the fraud log with full context — IP address, user agent, referrer URL, fraud type, and severity level for your review.

4

### Clean Clicks Proceed Silently

Clean clicks proceed to tracking as normal. Fraudulent ones are blocked silently — no error pages, no disruption. The visitor never knows the check happened.

## Complete Protection at a Glance

Royal Affiliate Pro ships with a comprehensive fraud engine that requires zero setup. Sensible defaults protect your program from day one.

5

Fraud Types Detected

3

Severity Levels

$0

Extra Cost

All fraud detection is included in every Royal Affiliate Pro license. No add-ons to purchase, no external API subscriptions to maintain, and no per-check fees.

## Fraud Detection Capabilities

- **Fraud type categories:** self\_referral, excessive\_clicks, bot\_detected, vpn\_proxy, duplicate\_referral
- **Context logging:** IP address, user agent, referrer URL
- **Configurable max clicks per IP per day** (default: 10)
- **Enable/disable individual fraud checks** independently
- **Admin fraud log** with filtering and search
- **No performance impact** — checks run in milliseconds
- **Works alongside all commission types** (direct, multi-tier, recurring)
- **No external API calls** — all detection runs locally
- **Zero configuration needed** — sensible defaults out of the box

## Related Features

[### Tracking & Analytics

Cookie-based referral tracking with first/last click attribution, cross-subdomain support, and visit analytics.](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/tracking/)
[### Commission System

Flat and percentage rates, product-specific commissions, tiered progression, and a 7-level priority system.](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/commissions/)
[### Affiliate Dashboard

A 7-tab self-service portal with stats, referral history, creatives, link generator, and payout tracking.](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/affiliate-dashboard/)
[### Automated Payouts

PayPal and Stripe Connect batch payouts with auto-scheduling, minimum thresholds, and store credit support.](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/payouts/)

## Protect Your Affiliate Program From Day One

Get built-in fraud detection and all other Royal Affiliate Pro features with a single license.

[View Pricing](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/pricing/)
[Explore All Features](https://royalplugins.com/royal-affiliates/features/)