Self-referral prevention
Self-referral is the most common form of affiliate fraud: an affiliate signs up, uses their own link to buy something, and earns commission on their own purchase.
Asteris Affiliates detects and blocks several patterns automatically.
Detection patterns
The plugin checks (in order):
- Logged-in WP user match — if the buyer’s WP user ID equals the referring affiliate’s WP user ID, block.
- Email match — if the order’s billing email equals the referring affiliate’s account email, block.
- Payout-detail match — if the order’s billing email equals any value in the affiliate’s payout details (PayPal email, bank holder email), block.
- IP match within 24h — if the order’s IP was used to sign in to the referring affiliate’s account in the last 24 hours, flag for review.
- Cookie-IP-account triangle — if the same IP saw both the affiliate’s portal and the checkout within 24 hours, flag.
Default response per pattern
| Pattern | Default action | Configurable |
|---|---|---|
| 1. WP user match | Block + revoke commission | No |
| 2. Email match | Block + revoke commission | Yes |
| 3. Payout-detail match | Block + revoke commission | Yes |
| 4. IP match within 24h | Flag for review | Yes — can auto-block |
| 5. Cookie-IP-account triangle | Flag for review | Yes |
Configure at Settings → Fraud → Self-referral.
Manual flag
Admins can flag any commission as “suspected self-referral” → it moves to Commissions → Flagged for batch review.
Affiliate appeal
If an affiliate believes a commission was incorrectly flagged (e.g. they share an IP with a household member who bought legitimately), they can submit an appeal from the portal. Admins see appeals in Affiliates → Appeals.
Aggressive vs lenient
For low-trust environments (open signups, anonymous affiliates), enable all 5 patterns + auto-block. For high-trust (invite-only, vetted affiliates), enable patterns 1–3 only and treat 4–5 as soft flags.