Detect and Prevent Affiliate Fraud

Help me build a fraud detection and prevention system for my Shopify affiliate program.

Current Setup:

  Affiliate app: [AFFILIATE_APP_NAME]
  Number of active affiliates: [COUNT]
  Monthly affiliate revenue: [REVENUE]
  Monthly commissions paid: [COMMISSIONS]
  Cookie duration: [DAYS] days
  Payout delay: [PAYOUT_DELAY_DAYS] days


Fraud Types to Detect:


  Self-Referral Fraud (affiliate buys through own link):
    
      Detection: cross-check affiliate email addresses with customer email list
      Flag: affiliate account email matches any customer email in the same household IP
      Action: cancel commission, warn affiliate, suspend on second offense
    
  
  Cookie Stuffing:
    
      Detection: identify affiliates with conversion rates above [THRESHOLD]% (industry normal is 1-5%)
      Flag: any affiliate with 10%+ conversion rate consistently over 30 days
      Action: request traffic source documentation, review referring URLs
    
  
  Return Fraud:
    
      Detection: identify affiliates whose referred orders have refund rates above [REFUND_THRESHOLD]%
      Flag: refund rate 3x the store average for any affiliate
      Action: implement automatic commission clawback within [CLAWBACK_WINDOW] days of refund
    
  
  Fake or Bot Traffic:
    
      Detection: high click counts with zero or near-zero conversions over 30+ days
      Flag: affiliates with 500+ clicks and 0 conversions in a single month
      Action: request traffic source URL, check referring domain quality
    
  
  Coupon Site Last-Click Hijacking:
    
      Detection: orders where the customer used a discount code and the affiliate link was the last touch
      Flag: affiliates whose commission share comes primarily from coupon-code orders
      Action: reduce or eliminate commissions for pure coupon-redirect traffic
    
  
  Duplicate Account Fraud:
    
      Detection: multiple affiliate accounts from same IP address or email domain
      Flag: more than one account with matching PayPal email, IP, or device fingerprint
    
  


Monthly Audit Checklist:

  Run self-referral email cross-check
  Review all affiliates with conversion rate above [X]%
  Review all affiliates with refund rate above [Y]%
  Check for IP address clusters among affiliate accounts
  Review any affiliate with 3x traffic spike vs their prior 30-day average
  Verify top 10 affiliates’ traffic sources manually


Program Rules to Add to Terms:

  Minimum [DAYS] day payout delay (allows refund window to close before commission is paid)
  Minimum payout threshold of [AMOUNT] to reduce micro-fraud profitability
  Prohibition of paid search ads using brand name keywords
  Required FTC-compliant disclosure on all promotional content
  Right to withhold or clawback commissions on refunded orders


Fraud Response Workflow:

  Document evidence with screenshots and data export
  Reverse fraudulent commissions in [AFFILIATE_APP_NAME]
  Send formal warning or suspension notice
  Add affiliate to internal blocklist
  Update terms and conditions if a new fraud pattern is discovered


Provide a monthly fraud audit checklist I can run in under 30 minutes, plus specific configuration settings for [AFFILIATE_APP_NAME] to minimize fraud exposure.