How fraud detection works on PUBLC

Why is it important to protect PUBLC's token model?

PUBLC's token model was built to create a new web economy that generates a sustainable revenue model for the different members of the web ecosystem. And while it is meant to serve the good actors who deserve these earnings for their hard work, there will always be malicious actors who would try to defraud the system in order to generate fraudulent earnings. All of PUBLC's community of users, publishers, influencers, advertisers and partners rely on us to be the gatekeepers and protect this token model as any abuse would harm them all. 

How do we combat fraud?

In order to protect our revenue model we have developed advanced technological tools that detect unusual patterns. These fraud detectors analyze all click and user activity looking for behaviour that isn't regular and therefore might be suspicious. 

This is very common for all online platforms to have such monitoring in place, especially when some sort of monetization is involved. For example, Ad Networks have similar tools and methods to identify fraudulent activity and flag it where there would be deliberate clicks on ads just to generate the rewards for the publisher. 

What counts as fraudulent activity?

To put it in simple terms, fraudulent activity is clicks that aren't done by real people, such as computer bots, or clicks that are not driven by the real intention to consume the content, and whose only purpose is to generate rewards for the content beneficiary.   

What happens if the fraud detector flags some content or activity?

When the fraud detector flags a content, user or activity as suspicious it would send it to our team for further review. Once a fraud flag is received, our team would investigate it by gathering more information from our own tools as well as third party tools. In some rare cases we might also reach out to the user/publisher that the event is related to and ask for any missing information that might be able to help resolve the issue.  

Is it possible that my content or account was falsely flagged as fraud?

Yes. As with any technological tool, there is never 100% accuracy. That’s why no automatic action would ever be taken without a review by our team member. In cases where we aren’t 100% certain that the event is indeed fraudulent then we might reach out to the user and request more information that could help us resolve the issue.

What happens in the event where the flagged activity gets confirmed as fraudulent?

If a suspicious event becomes confirmed as fraudulent, then a number of actions could be taken by PUBLC depending on the severity of the fraud case. Some of the actions may include the cancellation of fraudulent clicks, reverting of the token distribution, withholding the withdrawal and in some severe cases the suspension of fraudulent accounts. 

DO’s and DON’Ts for Creators and Users

Don’t..

🚫 Join or open "click groups" where different users/creators all click on each others’ content in order to solely generate token rewards.

🚫 Send or share your page or content and ask people to go click on all the content on your page in order to solely generate token rewards.

🚫  Open different user accounts in order to click on your own content to generate token rewards.

🚫  Use third party websites with a built in reward mechanism (i.e. rewarding users for clicking on ads).

Do..

✅  Share your PUBLC content links with your fans on your social media just like you do with your regular website links.

✅  Add PUBLC content links to your newsletters just like you would with regular content links.

✅  Share your PUBLC page and encourage your fans to follow you on PUBLC and consume your content through there.

Should I worry that my content or account will be flagged for fraud?

The simple answer is that if you are not committing fraud then you have nothing to worry about. Committing fraud takes deliberate actions with the intention of defrauding the system and maliciously generating clicks and tokens.   

It is important to highlight that 99.9% of the users who are using PUBLC as intended have had and will have no issues whatsoever and no reason for their content or activity to be flagged.

We at PUBLC will work tirelessly to protect our web economy and all our community members from any fraud threats and we are hoping that this will in turn instil confidence in them that our system and their earnings are well guarded. 

In case you are uncertain whether any activity you are doing is right or wrong, or you have concerns that something you do could result in your content or account being flagged as fraud then you can always reach out to us on [e-mail] and we will happily answer all your questions and clarify this.