Affiliates - Your experience with fraud, fakes and ...

[BelAmiAlan]

Hey guys, saw the thread about "fake affiliates" and though my topic is a little different it gave me an idea. As a relative newbie to the industry I have spend much time trying to be protective of my program while keeping an eye out for shady happenings. My question for the group is the following:

What are some signs of frauds, fakes and people just poking around?

Would love feedback on how much energy I need to be putting into this topic and what I can do If I suspect something is going on. Thanks.

[basschick]

a series of subscribers from a single affiliate or several affiliates who signed up very close to each other with totally random usernames, all from one affiliate.

a series of subscribers where you can see a pattern to the usernames and/or passwords.

a series of subscribers where your stats show no ref urls.

someone who sends traffic but your server stats show few or no hits from their sites. that was how i caught our first fraudster - he sent 42 sales from 11 hits :D