Affiliate
Forensics

For bookmakers & online casino operators

Ever caught an affiliate committing fraud? If not, you’ve probably missed it.

There’s a lot of money in iGaming affiliation, and money attracts fraud. Every affiliate programme gets fraud attempts. The question is whether anyone in your business is looking for them, and whether they know what to look for.

Take the 2-minute self-check → Request an audit
Sportsbook & casino Revenue share, CPA & hybrid deals Every brand, every market All engagements under NDA

How it unfolds

Fraud doesn’t just cost you commission. It hollows out your programme.

It rarely shows up as one big loss. It shows up as a slow change in who your affiliates are, what you pay them, and who you end up depending on.

  1. 01

    Fraud gets in unnoticed

    An affiliate signs up as a “media buyer” and never declares sources. Your ads run on sites you’d never approve, and nobody audits how the traffic is generated, so stuffed cookies and hijacked clicks look like ordinary conversions.

    Fraud share of commission
  2. 02

    It claims players you already had

    Your own organic and brand traffic gets tagged with their link at the last moment. Players who would have deposited anyway become their FTDs, with lifetime revenue share attached.

    Fraud share of commission
  3. 03

    Genuine affiliates stop converting

    Honest SEO and content affiliates still send real players, but someone else’s cookie overwrites theirs. Their numbers collapse, so they move their traffic to your competitors.

    Fraud share of commission
  4. 04

    New affiliates don’t stick

    Recruits see poor conversion and leave. The team blames a “saturated market”. Conversion concentrates in a handful of media buyers, and big partners start asking for fixed fees.

    Fraud share of commission
  5. 05

    You pay to get your own traffic back

    Before you know it you’re paying 80% of revenues to fraud traffic. You can’t retain good organic affiliates, and you’re paying people to give you back players who were already yours.

    80% of revenue share to fraud

Illustrative progression. Every programme is different; an audit tells you where yours is.

Fraud picks its targets

Spotless on your UK brand. Running fraud on your African one.

Fraudulent affiliates don’t spoil high-value markets where they’re watched closely. They keep those campaigns clean, and go after weaker brands, where a small affiliate team can’t check everything.

Flagship brand · UKSame affiliate

What your main team sees.

  • ✓Declared, compliant placements
  • ✓Responsible gambling messaging in place
  • ✓Normal click-to-registration patterns
  • ✓Passes every audit, earns a good reputation
Smaller brand · AfricaSame affiliate

What a two-person team doesn’t see.

  • F-01Undeclared “media buying” on sites with no responsible gambling messaging
  • F-02Cookie stuffing through hidden frames and pop-unders
  • F-03Brand-term hijacking on a brand too new for anyone to notice
  • F-04Lifetime revenue share on players who would have come anyway

Illustrative. The clean record on your flagship brand is exactly what gets the affiliate approved on the others.

Self-check

Twelve questions. Be honest.

If you’re not sure of an answer, count it as a no. Not knowing is the gap. Nothing you enter here leaves your browser.

  1. 01 Do you have a current list of every script running on your landing and registration pages?
  2. 02 Is one named person accountable for your Google tags and who can publish them?
  3. 03 Does your site send a Content Security Policy and refuse to load inside other sites’ iframes?
  4. 04 Do you know every site your ads appear on, including through affiliates who call themselves “media buyers”?
  5. 05 Do you vet an affiliate’s traffic sources before they go live?
  6. 06 Do you audit every affiliate you pay, starting with the largest by revenue?
  7. 07 Do you audit affiliates on every brand they promote, including your smaller brands and newer markets?
  8. 08 Do you audit how affiliates generate traffic, not just responsible gambling compliance?
  9. 09 Have you detected, and acted on, affiliate fraud on your brand?
  10. 10 Do your affiliate managers’ KPIs include fraud detection and cost saving?
  11. 11 Is there one named owner for affiliate fraud detection in your business?
  12. 12 Do your terms let you close an account and cancel lifetime revenue share when fraud is proven?

The four themes

Twenty-four questions every bookmaker should be able to answer.

THEME 01Q-01 to Q-06

Your website & tags

Scripts on landing pages, who controls your Google tags, Content Security Policy, iframing, cookie stuffing and click-hijacking.

Read the questions →
THEME 02Q-07 to Q-14

Where affiliates promote you

Declared channels, “media buyers”, vetting, and why fraudsters stay clean on your flagship brand and target your weaker ones.

Read the questions →
THEME 03Q-15 to Q-19

Warning signs in your numbers

Organic affiliates leaving, a “saturated market”, conversion concentrated in media buyers, and big partners on fixed fees.

Read the questions →
THEME 04Q-20 to Q-24

Ownership, incentives & terms

Who is responsible, what affiliate managers are rewarded for, zero tolerance, and terms that stop fraud coming back.

Read the questions →

Why operators bring us in

Your affiliate team grows the programme. We protect it.

Fraud destroys affiliate programmes. Not only can you lose money; fraud can paralyse the whole programme.

  • /01

    We test technique, not just compliance

    Responsible gambling checks tell you what an affiliate’s page says. We find out how their traffic actually reaches you.

  • /02

    We check every brand, not just the flagship

    Fraudsters pick the brand with the smallest team watching it. We test each affiliate on every brand they promote, arriving as a player would, so targeted fraud has nowhere to hide.

  • /03

    Independent of affiliates and platforms

    No revenue share, no affiliate relationships, no software to sell you. Our only job is the right answer.

  • /04

    Evidence you can act on

    Timestamped captures strong enough to close an account and withhold commission without a long argument.

  • /05

    Terms that stop it coming back

    We help you write fraud penalties into your affiliate terms, then monitor so it stays fixed.

Next step

No point recruiting affiliates while fraud flies under the radar.

Running an affiliate programme, going to conferences and signing new partners all cost money. None of it pays off while fraud traffic is taking the commission. Start with an independent audit of your largest affiliates.

Request an audit → Take the self-check