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ENTypical schemes
- Fake FTDs: registrations and minimum deposits that the affiliate makes or buys to meet the CPA baseline. Often from other people's cards.
- Incentivised traffic: people are paid to register and deposit. The FTDs are real, but nobody actually plays.
- Multi-accounts: one person or a farm opens dozens of accounts to collect CPA.
- Bonus abuse through the affiliate: the affiliate sends abusers to their exclusive offer, and the abusers take the bonus against the terms.
- Attribution hijacking: stuffed cookies, bidding on the casino's brand terms, intercepting players who would have come on their own.
- Self-referral: the affiliate signs up themselves or people they know through their own link and earns commission on their play.
How to catch it
The number of FTDs does not reveal fraud. Look at the player cohorts of each affiliate.
| 30-day cohort | Affiliate A | Affiliate B |
|---|---|---|
| FTDs | 100 | 100 |
| Second deposit | 38% | 6% |
| NGR per player | €42 | minus €5 |
| Share of bets with bonus money | 20% | 75% |
At a CPA of €100, affiliate A has not paid back yet after 30 days, but their players come back. Affiliate B's players make one deposit, play with the bonus and leave: each one costs the casino €105. Other signals: first deposits of exactly the baseline amount, shared devices and payment details across different players, a spike in registrations within an hour, chargebacks a few weeks later.
How to protect against it
- Payout hold: CPA for a month's players is paid, for example, 30 days later, when second deposits and chargebacks are visible.
- Contract: what counts as fraud, a ban on incentivised traffic and brand bidding, the right to withhold payouts and claw back CPA.
- Checks at registration: device fingerprinting, matches with other accounts and with self-excluded players.
Common mistakes
- Paying CPA straight after the FTD. Fake deposits and chargebacks surface weeks later, and by then the money is already with the affiliate.
- Fraud not defined in the contract. Without a list of schemes and the right to withhold payouts, the affiliate wins the dispute over every player.
- Vetting only new affiliates. A trusted affiliate can also mix in bought traffic. Cohort quality is reviewed every month for every source and sub ID.