For the past 20 years, I have work in the health care market research industry overseeing the global panel fielding of health care studies. One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen during that time is the ne for improv detection and elimination of survey fraudsters attempting to enroll in paid survey panels.
Often, you will see and hear conversations about ways to safeguard the quality of primary research data collection. The propos solutions include asking your online sampling provider the ESOMAR36 questions, optimizing survey design, adding traps, deploying joker checks, adding r-herring questions and purchasing the latest fraud detection technology.
While these solutions are important safeguards in their respective areas, they only address the chronic symptoms of survey fraudsters, not the root cause.
One of the best pieces of advice I receiv in during my health care research career was, Trust but verify. If you are passionate about survey data quality, here are some of my panel research rules that will be thought-provoking topics for your next call with your sampling provider.
Panel enrollment is by invitation only
The idea of attending a wding uninvit became popular after the movie Wding Crashers. These uninvit guests have no concern or respect. They simply arrive to take advantage of the free food and drinks. The best way to avoid such an alarming ruckus is to ensure only invit and desir guests know the time and location of the event. Similarly, the panel enrollment process should be by invitation only.
A filtered C-level contact list is the key to increasing sales and closing major deals. Reaching directly with top executives dispels c level contact list with the need to get past gatekeepers to pitch your product or service to the right decision-maker. Moving your messaging to this particular audience will result in quicker sales cycles, a tighter bond between partners, and ultimately revenue increase. Invest in the right contacts, and your business will thank you.
It is alarming how many open-enrollment links with click here to join/register are post on websites, social mia and paid advertising venues. These links are a beacon for fraudulent activity and an unending supervision nightmare for those attempting to ensure no gaps, holes or security enrollment breaches occur.
It is a critical misstep to publicly broadcast the details of how to register. And don’t engage in the flaw thinking that you have the most rigorous and secure vetting process. Eventually, panel enrollment will be compromis by persistent fraudsters who can deploy their arsenal of false registration attempts/hacks when present with these open-door opportunities. Panels that break this rule can easily have their enrollment database fill with attacks from unverifi registrations. Avoid this ticking time bomb by never allowing open enrollment!
Panel enrollment includes the detection
Many popular browsers, antivirus software and web applications offer the built-in benefits of virtual private networks and proxy servers (i.e., anonymous IP traffic). While these technologies protect the user’s identity and are great tools for accessing internet content securely, fraudsters also use them to obscure and falsify their identity and location. With a simple click, anyone can pretend to be in any country in the world.
Anonymous IP traffic must be detect within panel registration and survey deployment and it must be part of ongoing effort to detect account breaches and intrusions. By implementing a strict policy, invit panelists who ask to join can be monitor against their known clinical practice area, panelist-provid registration data and survey entry IP location.
Panel enrollment requires the full collection
A few months ago, I read recent survey findings on household Internet-connect devices. I was surpris that, on average, there are 7.8 connect internet devices per household in the U.S. Ubiquitous internet access poses a challenge to panels that solely rely on duplication software to detect multiple registrations and fraudulent activity.
One can easily switch devices (i.e., work and home computers) and bypass any security detection system (IP, cookie and browser fingerprinting systems). Those who bypass such checks can easily register multiple accounts under different information.
Fortunately, the health care panel ella got to work creating a compelling email industry has professional license data that can be collect and verifi. Collection of this datapoint type allows a secondary check to confirm registration identity and prevents duplication.
Moreover, monitoring license data will alert system administrators to potential fraud activity (i.e., multiple registration requests under the same license). With license data collect, panelists can be check for disbarment and license deactivation, which indicates death or retirement.
Referrals to join should not be allow
Back in the craze for coupon deals, I recall my spouse frantically calling me at work. There was a great coupon deal but the website limit users to only one coupon per e-mail address. She ask me to sign up to get the deal too. I then proce to ask my five coworkers in the room to sign up as well.
Panels are inherently target like coupon sites. Whether it’s to fight fraud activity or a zealous valid survey member looking for another deal, additional security measures should be deploy during registration.
According to recent statistics
Security checks such as tumbling (sequentially nam e-mail addresses or multiple variations of the same e-mail) and first activity dates (the date any e-mail becomes active) are great ways to detect malicious enrollees.
In addition, beware of panels phone number sa using referral systems, like asking register panelists to refer another health care friend to join. They may be referring the same person to register multiple times without multi-factor measures in place to detect duplication.
The panel payment process ensures all prior rules are follow
For most panel fraudsters, the end goal is to make a clean getaway. As with a bank robbery, it would be silly not to add a tracking device, dye pouch or mark bills to the loot bag but that’s effectively what happens when panel payment catalogs include anonymous payment , e-cards like Amazon or unverifi e-mail payments.
Rather than make a payment to a Venmo handle, the payment should be made to a collect phone number associat with the panelist’s Venmo account. The collect phone number can then be validat (i.e., reverse phone ownership lookup).
Panels that focus more attention on their robust payment catalog than on secure payment tracking methods will always miss a prime moment to ensure all prior rules are follow. This is the best place to catch a crafty fraudster.
For example, sending a paper check allows you to catch those who enter a payment name different (Rule #1) than the one they us to register. In addition, the address location can be verifi again (Rule #2) and the address location can be check to ensure uniqueness across other panel records (Rule #3).
Follow up with your panel provider
We end where we start. It would be incorrect to avoid asking verifying questions and assume safeguards are foolproof. For me, it has uncover numerous opportunities to prove what I already knew to be true and uncover new understandings I did not know even exist.
Good rules
The elimination of survey fraudsters in paid research begins with panels following good enrollment rules. Let’s improve the health care data collection industry by ensuring protections are in place. Together, we can eliminate survey fraudsters.
