Fake User or Spam Prevention

[dextrous]

We have noticed recently Spammers are trying to create fake users on our board but all of them are waiting for Admin to make active. We have CAPTCHA, Custom Profile Fields, Admin needs to approve to become active and Post Flood interval is 1 hour. But it is still annoying that someone is trying to create fake users, as Admin has to delete/ban them after verifying they are fake or real user. It looks like they are using VPN so all of them are from different IPs. Is there anything else we can do to stop them?. Thanks.

[Mick]

Yes, for one, assuming it’s the board in your signature, change the captcha you’re using, the wiggly letter type captchas were compromised many years ago. I suggest using the built in Q&A CAPTCHA. Set that up correctly and the spammers automated registration will mainly stop. You can also consider activating the Newly Registered User group, between the two you should be able to defeat 99% of spammers. Also see Preventing spam in phpBB. All of the above information, and more, is available via a board search.

[dextrous]

Thanks, will try Q&A CAPTCHA. Noticed that the Custom Profile Field just checks if its required or not but doesn't validate the answer. Is it possible to validate the answer of Custom Profile Fields & Q&A CAPTCHA before they register?.

[KevC]

That's exactly what Q&A does. Only the right answer will let them register.