Incentive fraud queue 🛡️
Ethnio checks every reward automatically when the recipient redeems it. If anything about the redemption looks suspicious, the reward is held instead of paid out, and it lands in the fraud queue at Incentives › Activity › Fraud queue. Nothing is paid out while a reward sits in the queue. A person on your team decides whether to release it or block it.
Incentive fraud checks are always on for global financial and security compliance, so they can't be turned off. For fraud prevention across studies and your participant pool, see Fraud prevention.
What gets a reward held
Every redemption goes through these checks:
| Check | What it catches |
|---|---|
| Many emails on one device or payout account | The same device or payout account (such as a bank account) used with several different recipient emails. This is the most common reason a reward is held. |
| Previously blocked recipients | Someone your team blocked before tries to redeem again, even with a new email, IP address or device. |
| Known fraud records | An email, phone number, IP address, device or bank account that matches known fraud across millions of payouts in our incentive network. |
| Blocked countries, IP addresses, emails or domains | A redemption that comes from a blocked location, IP address, email address or email domain. |
| Reward limits | A recipient who has redeemed more rewards, or a larger total amount, than the limit allows. |
An example of the most common case: a participant redeems a reward as bob@a.com, then redeems more rewards from the same laptop as bob.smith@gmail.com, robert.s@yahoo.com and a few other addresses. Each new email looks like a new person, but they all share one device, so the next redemption is held. That pattern usually means one person is collecting rewards under made-up identities.
Using the fraud queue
The queue has three tabs, and each reward moves through them as you work:
- Flagged holds rewards waiting on a decision. Start here.
- Blocked holds rewards your team blocked.
- Released holds rewards your team released and paid out to the recipient.
Each row shows the date, status, order ID and mode, the recipient's name and payment email, the amount, the risk level and the reasons the reward was held. To find a reward, search by order ID, name or email. This helps when a participant writes in asking where their reward went. If the Flagged tab is empty, nothing is waiting on you.
Click the status, order ID or recipient to open the reward's details. The details panel shows the risk level and reasons, how many related rewards the recipient has, and links to the reward in Activity (by Incentive ID) and to its order in Transaction history (by Order ID).
Risk level and reasons
The Risk column shows how risky a held reward looks: Low risk, Medium risk or High risk. The Reason column lists why it was held. These are the reasons you'll see most often:
| Reason | What it means |
|---|---|
| Device or account used with multiple email addresses | The same device or payout account has been used with several different recipient emails. |
| Device linked to a previously blocked reward | The recipient redeemed from a device your team has already blocked a reward on. |
| Email address linked to a previously blocked reward | The recipient's email was used on a reward your team blocked before. |
| Email address matches a known fraud record | The email has been tied to fraud elsewhere in our incentive network. |
| IP address matches a known fraud record | The IP address has been tied to fraud elsewhere in our incentive network. |
| Exceeds the reward count limit | The recipient has redeemed more rewards than the limit allows. |
Deciding whether to release or block
A flag is a signal, not a verdict. Release the reward when you have your own reason to trust the person, such as a participant you recruited directly, a known employee or customer, or someone who shares a household device with another participant. Block it when the recipient doesn't match anyone you expected in the study, or when the session itself looked rehearsed or inattentive. If you're unsure, check the response or session behind the reward before deciding. The reward stays held until someone decides, so there's no rush.
What happens after you block or release a reward
Both decisions are final. A blocked reward can't be released later, resent or reissued, and a released reward can't be blocked.
After you release a reward
- The reward is paid to the recipient through the payout method they chose, as if it had never been held.
- The reward moves to the Released tab.
- The response behind the reward is marked Paid, and the release is logged on the participant's activity timeline.
After you block a reward
- The reward is canceled, and the recipient is never paid.
- The reward moves to the Blocked tab, and the response behind it shows a Blocked status in Responses.
- Future redemptions from the same person, device or payout account are flagged automatically, even with a new email.
Checking for refund eligibility
Ethnio checks whether the reward is eligible for a refund. When you block a reward, you'll see one of two results:
Option 1: Blocked and refunded
The reward's full amount, including fees, goes back to where it was paid from. That's the budget, the invoice, or your account credit for credit card payments. The refund shows up in Transaction history.
Depending on the payment provider, redeem status, and a host of other factors, each reward may or may not be eligible for a refund.
Option 2: Blocked
The reward wasn't eligible for a refund, typically because the payout provider had already locked the funds. The reward is still canceled and won't be paid.