Incentives attract people, but they also attract fraud. Even with advanced fraud prevention tools like Research Defender in place, manual review is essential. We recommend reviewing member data monthly to catch low-quality responses and flag suspicious activity.

Fuel Cycle manages the initial review process for new communities. For ongoing support, Community Management services are available.

What to Watch For

During your review, look out for:

• Low-quality open-ended responses: Gibberish, irrelevant content, or nonsensical text

• Duplicates: Identical responses, accounts, names, or birthdays

• Unusual behavior: Strange email domains, vulgar usernames, or inconsistent answers

• Shared IP addresses: Use judgment here—some overlap may be legitimate (e.g., family members or coworkers)

Recruitment Link Best Practices

• Prefer unique links: These can be tailored (e.g., by Customer ID) and clicked only once.

• Use single/reusable links only when necessary: Ideal for general promotions (e.g., social posts or QR codes).

• Always set an expiration date for links—even for ongoing campaigns.

• Rotate links regularly on websites, social platforms, and printed materials.

• Set limits on how often a link can be used.

• Disable outdated links after campaigns end.

Additional Safeguards

• Keep incentivized activities below the reward threshold during recruitment to prevent easy exploitation.

• Enable SMS verification and two-factor authentication for signups and redemptions to reduce fraud risk.