Have people been getting a lot more fraud bots apply to their page recently? Last month I had 10 people apply and their names and pictures were obvious fraud.
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Yeah there are a good number of posts here about this in general and it seems that many are seeing a rise in these accounts. I noticed a rise in mine a handful of months ago and they just don’t stop. ~25 fraud accounts almost monthly for me right now, but i know larger patreon accounts are dealing with hordes more. I’ve been trying to clean them out (I send a message to accounts i suspect are fraud and ask them to respond within x days otherwise they will be remove. Of course, they don’t respond so i do, but i honestly spend too much time trying to clear out these bots and making sure i’m not removing an actual paying customer. :/) If new pledgers who haven’t paid yet couldn’t see my content i wouldn’t care but since they can, i DO care. I know there are still sites out there that their sole purpose is to re-post stolen patreon content through some of these bots. I’ve lost track of where they are now since they’ve been shut down many times and moves just as many but I’m absolutely sick of this content skimming issue and having my pledge numbers inflated each month. Not much of my content is legit getting taken as all high res stuff gets posted via dropbox link to paid patron DM’s but all my previews and behind the scenes stuff gets posted to my blog and i just feel bad that my paying supporters may not be the only ones enjoying these goodies that only exist because of them. 
(Also very deflating seeing so many big red “Fraud” lists in my monthly payments.)
I sincerely hope that something is being done about this. (@ellie @jake @Scott @joshbuddy @sean or whomever out there is listening.) I personally cannot use the Pay Upfront feature (Maybe you can @andyrew36 ?) because it doesn’t suit my needs and it can screw myself and my patrons over with how i run things currently. So until they create options where it is just simply the first month immediate charge only and then properly month by month/cant see higher tier content until payment processes, those of us who can’t use the Pay Upfront/don’t have access to it yet, we are pretty much stuck dealing with this.
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Sorry, everyone. We are currently working through an unusually high number of these this month and figuring out additional ways to prevent fraudulent accounts from being created. If you haven’t already sent a note to the support team, they should be able to help with any payment delays you may be experiencing as we continue to work through these accounts.
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I’m not experiencing payment delays but its making me look like a liar. My goals are being “met” each month but by fraud accounts. I dont have the time to remove all of them every day. When is the pay upfront going to be implemented? It would solve all of my problems.
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It’s not available for everyone yet apparently but @ellie might be able to help in that regard.
I certainly suggest you go over and read the Pay Upfront feature specs very carefully before doing it. Once you use it, you cannot go back and there are people that regret using it who now don’t have a choice.
I have the option but i personally cannot use it because it’s functions do not work well with my project and would screw myself and my patrons over with how it handles people upgrading/changing their pledges (and effectively charging people twice and i have no control over this.) (You can see my feedback and issues with this over at Pay Upfront Flaws & Suggestions - but i know a bunch of people who use the pay upfront feature and it works wonders for their projects! So it really just comes down to making sure it is the thing for you before using it.)
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Well since I constantly have people pledge for a week or two and then “dont get rewards” so they delete their pledges. I’m VERY certain I want up front. I’d rather deal with having money & upset customers instead of no money and upset customers. 
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I feel like each time I’ve posted something to my patreon I get a bot pledge, and I’m only on my third month using patreon. Only just scratching the surface, and already can’t wait for the charge upfront to be enabled, heh. I met my first goal the other week, only to find out the pledge that pushed me over the limit was a fraud. 
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Oh man. Yeaaaaah. Every post i get i get at least one more bot. It is so frustrating. I hope Pay Upfront gets enabled for you! (Just be sure to read all the information about it before committing because you cannot undo it once you choose to use it!)
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5 fraud patrons this round, plus some that I caught before the billing cycle, and no charge upfront yet. I can’t wait for it to be implimented as an option for everyone, or at least have clear directives what you need to do to get it.
I understand why it’s hard to impliment stuff like that and that it needs to be tested out properly but… it’s just frustrating, ya know? To see this:
[/vent] :V
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What do fraud-bots even do?? If its a bot on the other end of the screen, they’re not maliciously appreciating your content without contributing, is it a giant conspiracy by Patreon to artificially inflate a users perceived income? We may never know…
Many of the bots DO steal content from creators they fake pledge to and re-post them to other sites for people to see for free. Since Patreon doesn’t block people from seeing content until a successful pledge goes through.
Gosh. Wasn’t aware of this. Interesting reading.
Yeah it is unfortunately a problem many of us have been dealing with since year 1 of Patreon because of the way the system works when someone pledges.
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Something I’ve yet to experience, thankfully. Are newer accounts less susceptible or are we all in the same boat?
Everyone is susceptible. Some content types get more negative attention than others in regards to bots but it didn’t take long for me to have to deal with it when i first started. Back then it wasn’t so much bots as it was people signing up and then leaving before payments came out (but because they can see content once pledged, would go through and steal content before they leave.)
I post any high res/completed stuff that isn’t going to get posted publicly, via DM to paid patrons instead of the to blog so that if bots/skimmers try to steal things, it’s all stuff that’s going to go public in a few days anyways. (low-res content and the like.) But it still sucks because it hinders my ability to give patrons the treatment they deserve if stuff gets leaked. The blog is very convenient to post to and it also shows non-patrons how much content you post which is important for growth, so i really can’t stop posting to the blog altogether
Even then though, some patrons don’t understand that privately DM’ed stuff is private, or stuff in the blog that is patron only is meant for them only. I know people who have shared private content with friends without compensation to the artists. (Many don’t understand how much it affects the creators they like.) It’s hard to stop but the bots themselves are hurtful for more than just sharing content. They can block up limited reward tiers, inflate your numbers which may drive away new patrons, falsely meeting goals and sudden drops in expected income, etc. It just all around sucks.
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It sounds like a real hindrance and nuisance. Hopefully, Patreon will find a way to deal with it that suits everybody. It sounds like they’re working on it, so fingers crossed…
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