Web forms are a crucial part of digital marketing and customer interaction, serving as gateways for leads, sign-ups, and feedback. However, they are also constant targets for automated bots and malicious actors submitting fake or irrelevant data. This isn't just a minor annoyance, it's a significant challenge that can corrupt your data, waste resources, and even damage your sender reputation.
The problem extends beyond simple spam emails. These fake submissions can have far-reaching consequences, from skewing your analytics to leading to the accidental inclusion of spam traps in your contact lists. Understanding the motivations behind these automated attacks is the first step toward effective defense.
It's a complex landscape, with bots evolving in sophistication. Knowing why they target your forms and how they operate is essential for protecting your digital assets and ensuring the integrity of your marketing and sales efforts.
Why bots target web forms
Bots don't differentiate between a contact form and a complex multi-page insurance application, they simply crawl the web looking for any input fields. Once found, their programmed objective is to fill them out and submit them. This indiscriminate approach is why even forms without an obvious 'giveaway' can become targets.
One primary motivation for these automated submissions is to gather information about your system or exploit vulnerabilities. By overloading a web form server, for example, a bot might attempt to trigger an error message that reveals underlying system information, which can then be used for more targeted attacks. This isn't always about direct spam, but about reconnaissance.
Another sinister purpose involves hijacking a legitimate company's email deliverability. Bots can flood an email address (often one associated with a compromised account) with a massive volume of emails from your forms. The goal is to bury important notifications, making it harder for the account owner to spot genuine security alerts or password reset emails. This tactic is a direct threat to your domain reputation and can lead to your domain ending up on a blocklist (or blacklist).
The deceptive tactics of form bots
Bots are programmed to fill forms with random data, pre-programmed strings, or even stolen credentials to appear legitimate. This isn't always about outright spam, but about generating fake leads or accessing gated content. As Anura.io points out, these bot-driven submissions can skew data and waste ad spend. Some bots are even sophisticated enough to simulate human-like behavior, making them harder to detect through simple checks.
It's also important to distinguish between bot activity and human error. Sometimes, users intentionally submit fake data to avoid follow-up emails, especially when seeking quotes or information without wanting to be added to a mailing list. This can lead to fake email addresses appearing to be bot-generated when they are, in fact, human-entered keyboard smashes or typo-domain squatters, such as 'yaho.com' instead of 'yahoo.com'.
While not all fake submissions are from bots, automated programs contribute significantly to the problem. They range from simple scripts that fill out fields to more advanced bots that mimic human browsing patterns, sometimes even using bot-infected machines as proxies to hide their true origin. Understanding these nuances is key to implementing effective countermeasures.
Bot submissions
Automated speed: Submissions occur at speeds impossible for humans, often filling multiple fields instantly or within seconds.
Gibberish or patterns: Data includes random characters, repeating sequences, or nonsensical strings that indicate automated input.
Malicious intent: Aims to overload systems, hide activity, or exploit vulnerabilities through fake sign-ups or spam links.
IP characteristics: Often originate from known botnets, data centers, or rapidly changing IP addresses.
Human (fake) submissions
Natural timing: Inputs typically have variable timing, pauses, and corrections, reflecting human interaction.
Intentional misdirection: Data might be intentionally invalid or include typos to avoid unwanted contact.
Behavioral motivation: Driven by a desire to access gated content or quotes without committing to email subscriptions.
Consistent source: Often from typical user IPs, but the data itself is clearly fabricated.
Impact on businesses
Fake form submissions, whether by bots or humans, pose numerous problems for businesses. The most immediate impact is the corruption of your data. Bogus leads and sign-ups inflate your metrics, making it difficult to assess true marketing performance and hindering accurate analysis. This skewed data can lead to misguided strategic decisions and inefficient resource allocation.
Beyond data integrity, there's a significant financial cost. Marketing teams might waste valuable ad spend targeting fake leads, while sales teams spend time chasing down bogus inquiries. This operational inefficiency translates directly into lost revenue and reduced productivity. Furthermore, your databases become cluttered with junk data, making management more challenging and potentially incurring higher storage costs.
Perhaps most critically for email marketers, fake form submissions can severely impact your email deliverability and sender reputation. When these bogus entries include invalid email addresses, they can trigger bounces, hit spam traps, or lead to your IP address or domain being added to an email blocklist (also called a blacklist). This means legitimate emails might start landing in spam folders or be rejected outright by recipient servers. It's vital to monitor your blocklist status to avoid these issues.
Risks of fake form submissions
Inaccurate analytics: Skews conversion rates, lead counts, and overall marketing performance metrics.
Wasted budget: Ad spend is wasted on bot traffic and unqualified leads, reducing campaign ROI.
Operational inefficiencies: Sales and support teams spend time processing and filtering fake submissions.
Damaged sender reputation: High bounce rates or spam complaints due to invalid emails leading to blocklisting.
Security vulnerabilities: Some submissions are reconnaissance for larger cyberattacks or phishing attempts.
Mitigating bot and fake form submissions
Protecting your web forms from bots and fake data requires a multi-layered approach. Traditional methods like CAPTCHAs, while sometimes effective, can also create friction for legitimate users. Radware's insights highlight the need for robust bot management to combat sophisticated form spam. Implementing techniques like honeypot fields, which are hidden fields designed to trap bots, can effectively filter out automated submissions without impacting user experience.
Beyond technical measures, consider the human element. If you're compensating partners or vendors based on form sign-ups, they might be incentivized to submit fake data. Reviewing compensation models can mitigate this risk. Additionally, implementing double opt-in for email list sign-ups can help confirm the legitimacy of new subscribers.
Continuously monitoring your form submissions and analyzing patterns is also crucial. Look for unusual spikes in activity, submissions from suspicious IP addresses, or data that seems nonsensical. Tools that can trace submission IPs and perform real-time email validation can help in identifying and blocking fraudulent entries before they impact your operations or email deliverability.
Method
Description
Benefit
Honeypot fields
Hidden form fields invisible to humans but filled out by bots.
Effective bot detection without user friction.
CAPTCHA/reCAPTCHA
Challenges users to prove they are human (e.g., image puzzles).
Prevents automated submissions, but can annoy users.
Client-side validation
JavaScript checks on form fields before submission.
Basic defense against unsophisticated bots and accidental errors.
Server-side validation
Validating data on the server after submission.
Strongest defense, as it cannot be bypassed by client-side tricks.
IP reputation checks
Blocking submissions from known malicious IP addresses.
Prevents widespread bot attacks from identified sources.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Validate all form submissions on the server-side to catch automated entries that bypass client-side checks.
Implement a honeypot field. It's an invisible field that only bots fill, allowing you to easily block those submissions.
Use behavioral analysis to detect non-human patterns, such as extremely fast submissions or unusual mouse movements.
Regularly review your website analytics for abnormal traffic spikes or conversion rate anomalies that suggest bot activity.
Common pitfalls
Relying solely on CAPTCHAs, as sophisticated bots and human farms (like Mechanical Turk) can bypass them, or they may frustrate legitimate users.
Ignoring the financial incentives that might lead third-party vendors to submit fake leads for compensation.
Failing to monitor your email blocklist status, which can deteriorate quickly if fake sign-ups lead to spam traps or high bounce rates.
Assuming all bad data comes from bots; sometimes, it's humans intentionally providing false information to avoid unwanted communication.
Expert tips
If you receive emails that go to spam traps immediately after form submission, analyze the IP and submission method. It may not be an old list issue.
Be aware of typo-domain squatters. Users might enter slightly incorrect but existing domains to avoid valid email capture.
Look for a mix of IPs for submissions. Bots may use randomized IPs or proxy through infected machines to appear diverse.
Consider why users might provide fake data: if they don't want ongoing emails, make it clear what communications they'll receive or provide more granular options.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says bots attempt to take webform servers down to expose vulnerabilities or hijack deliverability to hide notifications for compromised accounts.
2019-08-02 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says many account takeovers use email flooding to bury system notifications that would alert the true account owner.
2019-08-02 - Email Geeks
Final thoughts on form protection
The persistent challenge of bots and fake data submitting web forms is multifaceted, driven by a range of malicious intentions and sometimes human motivations. From system exploitation and email flooding to skewed analytics and damaged sender reputation, the consequences can be severe for businesses.
Implementing a combination of technical safeguards like honeypots and server-side validation, alongside careful monitoring and policy adjustments, is crucial. By understanding the motivations behind these fake submissions and employing robust prevention strategies, you can protect your data, optimize your resources, and maintain healthy email deliverability, ensuring your web forms serve their intended purpose effectively.
Prevents automated submissions, but can annoy users.
