Q: What are the earliest fraud signals I can catch on my side?

Q: What are the earliest fraud signals I can catch on my side?

Watch the gap between clicks and behavior, not just conversion rate. Fraud usually breaks the funnel's physics before it breaks your revenue.

Cheap signals to monitor weekly:

— Click-to-lead time clustering near zero, or impossibly uniform across a partner.
— A spike in conversions with a collapse in on-site engagement (time on page, scroll, add-to-cart).
— Geo or device mix that doesn't match the partner's claimed audience.
— Refund or chargeback rate well above your program average for one source.

Caveat: none of these is proof alone. A great email partner can convert in seconds because the buyer was pre-sold. Use signals to open a conversation and request traffic detail, not to auto-reverse and accuse. Pair them with a validation hold so suspect volume simply doesn't pay until cleared. Catch it in the window, not after you've already wired the money.

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