How Can I Prevent Bots or Spam Entries in My Contest?

Question

Accepted Answer

Prevent spam entries by using automated fraud detection, verification, and clear rules that filter out suspicious activity while keeping entry easy for real users.

Spam and bot entries can undermine fairness and damage trust, so entry validation is essential for serious contests.

Gleam includes a built-in Fraud Filter that automatically analyses 20+ entry attributes to detect suspicious behaviour. When an entry is flagged, it’s marked Invalid in the Actions tab, giving you visibility before winners are drawn.

You can control how strict protection is using Fraud Levels. The default is High, balancing strong protection with legitimate participation. Options range from Off (minimal checks) to Very High (more aggressive challenges), with CAPTCHA, login verification, and VPN/data-centre protection increasing at higher levels.

CAPTCHA is applied intelligently to challenge risky traffic. You can leave it Automatic (recommended), set it to Always, or disable it if needed.

Clear rules also help deter abuse. Gleam automatically generates ready-to-publish Terms & Conditions based on your campaign setup (dates, prizes, locations), which you can edit to add usage rights—especially important for UGC. For guidance on permissions, see the UGC permission guide.

Finally, limit where entries can come from when appropriate. Allowed Locations let you include or exclude countries to reduce low-quality traffic from outside your target market.

Using these controls together helps you attract real participants, protect campaign integrity, and review anything suspicious before selecting winners.