How does Tradable Bits protect against bots?

Imagine running a contest with a public link backed by a major sponsor offering high-value prizes. You want real fans entering from everywhere, not a single IP farming all your prize codes! Unfortunately, public campaigns can be prime targets for automated scripts, fraud, and bad actors. Bot protection blocks non-human traffic automatically, so your prizes go to real fans.

Here are some ways we protect against bots at Tradable Bits:

1. Bot and Spam Protection

You can turn on bot protection for your campaign under General Setup > Access Restrictions.

• No Protection (Level 0): This mode is ideal for in-venue kiosks, staff-assisted entries or in-venue QR codes, where traffic to the campaign is controlled, and the campaign URL is not publicly known.
  
  
• Spam Protection (Level 1): This mode blocks obvious spammers - high-frequency entries from the same IP address will be rejected with a clear error message. But be careful: if you are running an in-venue campaign, do not use spam protection. The reason for this is to avoid blocking legitimate fans sharing the venue's Wi-Fi or IP address. 
  
  
• Bot Protection (Level 2): This is the full anti-bot algorithm. When you turn on this toggle, we analyze entry behaviour in real-time to block suspicious attempts, without disrupting real fans. Select this option when you're running  public contests with major prizes.
  
  

When Spam Protection is enabled: 

• We limit entries based on cookies and IP addresses. For example, if a fan enters 60 activities in a 20-minute time frame, we prevent them from submitting any further.
• We limit entries where fans have entered the same first name and last name, but with a different email, more than 10 times. 

When Bot Protection is enabled:

• • Automated entries are quietly blocked
  • Fans see a “success” screen, but behind the scenes for bots, nothing goes through
  • No captchas, no clunky redirects, no giveaway tipping off the bots.
    
    

2. User Access Management

Similar to the bot protection, the User Access Management section gives you full control over which Users or IPs can or cannot enter your campaign. You can ban or allow individual users by their email, phone, domains, IP address, or entire IP ranges.

• User Management:

If you need to allow or block a user, select the 'Add User Rule' button under the 'User Management' tab. Next, under the Action menu, choose either 'Allow or Block'. You can allow or block a user by selecting either their email address, phone number or domain from the 'Type' menu. Finally, enter the email address, phone number, or domain, then click 'Confirm'.

• IP Management:

Similar to User Management, you can allow or block a single IP address or an entire network using CIDR notation. To do this, under the 'IP Management' tab, select the 'Add User Rule' button. Inside, you can choose between 'Allow or Block' option. To complete the form, paste the IP address or CIDR notation into the required field. Then, click 'Confirm'.

3. Limit Fan Entries

We have a Limit Fan Entries section in the Authentication section of a campaign, which allows you to limit entries by email and also by user session. If you toggle this on, it will stop the user from entering the campaign beyond the maximum number of times you’ve set. Most often, bots will enter with different email addresses from the same IP address. 

4. Bot Status Reporting

In addition to blocking bots, we also provide a log so you can see how many bots were stopped and who these bots might be. To view, head to Results > Bot Status for a breakdown of what’s getting through, flagged or blocked. 

If you have further questions about bot protection for your campaigns, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or contact support@tradablebits.com