Understanding and preventing multi-accounting fraud with Verisoul
Multi-accounting (also known as duplicate accounts) occurs when a single person creates and operates multiple accounts on your platform. This is a common fraud pattern that can lead to significant losses through promotional abuse, collusion, and other fraudulent activities.
Components of Verisoul’s Multi-Accounting Detection
Verisoul’s multi-accounting detection system consists of several interconnected components that work together to provide an accurate risk assessment.
1
Match Types
Verisoul identifies three primary match types between accounts:
Browser Match
The only deterministic match type with zero false positives
Always results in a score of 1 (highest confidence)
Based on browser-specific identifiers
Device Match
Based on hardware and software characteristics
Includes device fingerprinting techniques
Probabilistic with varying confidence levels
Network Match
Analysis of network patterns and characteristics
Includes IP address analysis and packet inspection
Probabilistic with varying confidence levels
Email Match
Analyzes string similarity of normalized email addresses
Strips special characters like dots (.) and plus (+) signs
Identifies users creating variations of the same email
2
Account-to-Account Scores
Each potential connection between two accounts receives a score (0-1) based on several factors:
Match type strength: Browser matches (score 1) > Device matches > Network matches
Number of sessions matched: More matching sessions increase confidence
Fingerprint uniqueness:
Globally unique fingerprints provide higher confidence
Common fingerprints (seen frequently across many users) provide lower confidence
Time between sessions:
Sessions close together in time provide stronger signals
Sessions weeks apart provide weaker signals
Two accounts sharing a unique device fingerprint across multiple sessions within minutes would receive a high account-to-account score, while two accounts sharing only a common network characteristic weeks apart would receive a low score.
3
Multi-Accounting Probability
The multiple_accounts field is the culmination of all account-to-account scores, representing the overall likelihood that an account is part of a multi-accounting scheme:
Range: 0 (no risk) to 1 (highest risk)
Primary risk indicator: This is the most important field for assessing multi-accounting risk
This probability is calculated by:
Evaluating all account-to-account scores
Considering the number of linked accounts
Applying the accounts linked threshold configuration
The graph of linked accounts is viewable in the Verisoul dashboard and can be retrieved at any time via the accounts linked API. This provides a visual representation of potential multi-accounting clusters.