Catch one user hiding behind many accounts
{ "email": "player+alt3@gmail.com", "deliverability": "DELIVERABLE", "quality_score": 0.15, "is_free_email": true, "is_disposable_email": false, "is_subaddress": true, "is_role_email": false, "is_smtp_valid": true }
The duplicate-identity signals
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How to detect multi-accounting
Where multi-accounting hurts
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Frequently asked questions
What is multi-accounting?
Multi-accounting is when one person runs many accounts on the same service, often to claim a bonus, limit, or vote more than once, or to evade a ban. The accounts look separate but trace back to shared signals: the same network, a lightly disguised email, or a reused phone number.
Where does multi-accounting hurt the most?
It concentrates where each account carries value or a limit: promotions and referral programs, marketplaces and gig platforms, online gaming and gambling, and communities where votes or reviews matter. In each, one person behind many accounts skews limits, drains bonuses, or distorts outcomes.
What signals reveal a duplicate account?
The reliable tells are a disposable or free email, plus-addressing on the address, a VOIP or invalid phone number, and a VPN, proxy, or repeated IP behind many signups. No single flag is proof, but several together on one signup point to a duplicate identity.
How do you detect multi-accounting without false-banning households or offices?
Shared IPs are normal for homes, offices, and mobile carriers behind CGNAT, so naive IP matching false-positives on real users. Weigh the IP alongside line type, disposable or plus-addressed email, and VPN flags, and act on the combination rather than a shared address alone. Prefer step-up checks over hard bans.
Is multi-accounting the same as fake-account fraud?
They overlap but differ. Fake-account fraud is about accounts that are not real people at all. Multi-accounting is one real person running many accounts, each of which can look legitimate on its own. Both are caught with the same identity signals at signup, which is why they share the fake-account-detection toolset.
Can you stop multi-accounting without adding signup friction?
Yes. Score the identity behind each signup in the background using email, phone, and IP signals, and only add a step-up check when the risk is high. Most real users never see friction, while duplicate accounts are flagged before they claim a limit or reward.
How does Abstract help detect multi-accounting?
Call Abstract's Email Validation, Phone Validation, and IP Intelligence APIs when a user signs up. Together they flag disposable or plus-addressed emails, VOIP numbers, and VPN or proxy IPs, so you can link duplicate signups back to one person and act before the reward is granted. Start free.
