Linked Accounts
What it does
Section titled “What it does”Records what identifies each member — the device they sign in from, the signature of that device, their bank account number, their IP address and their account holder name — and shows you every other account in your brand that shares one of them.
This is what catches bonus abuse: one person opening several accounts to claim the same promotion more than once.
Recording is always on and cannot be switched off. That is deliberate — the day you decide to act on this, you want months of history behind it, not an empty list.
Where to find it
Section titled “Where to find it”Two places:
- Members → (open a member) → Linked Accounts — the accounts that member shares something with.
- Fraud Management → Detections — every member linked to another, across your whole brand, over the period you pick there.
What each signal means, and what happens when one blocks, is set on Fraud Management → Fraud Settings — one screen shared with Hedge Detection, because both features have always written the same rules.
The five signals
Section titled “The five signals”| Signal | What it means | Suggested |
|---|---|---|
| Same device | The same browser, on the same phone or computer, has signed into both accounts. | Block |
| Same bank account number | Two accounts pay out to one bank account. That is one person. | Block |
| Same browser signature | Two accounts were used from a phone or computer that looks identical. | Flag |
| Same IP address | Both signed in from the same address. | Flag |
| Same account holder name | The bank name on two different accounts is the same. | Flag |
Same device and same bank account are strong: each one means a single person holds both accounts.
Same device and same browser signature are not the same check
Section titled “Same device and same browser signature are not the same check”They look alike and they fail in opposite ways, which is why both exist.
Same device is exact. It matches until the member clears their browser data — and then it stops matching, permanently, because the mark it relies on has been erased.
Same browser signature is rebuilt from the phone or computer itself every time, so clearing browser data and using private windows do not reset it. What it gives up is certainty: two phones of the same model, on the same browser version, with the same screen and language settings, can produce the same signature without being the same phone. That is common in a market where most people are on a handful of popular handsets.
So read them differently. Same device is a fact. Same browser signature is a strong hint that deserves a second look, which is why it starts on Flag and why we suggest leaving it there until you have watched what it turns up on your own members.
Same IP address is weak, and the screen shows you why. Most members are on mobile networks that hand out addresses in rotation, so two people who have never met can share one. On IPv6 the network gives each phone its own prefix and changes the rest of the address, so addresses with the same first half count as the same address. The Players affected count next to each signal tells you how many members it currently touches - if Same IP shows hundreds, blocking on it would refuse hundreds of real people.
Same account holder name is weak for the same kind of reason: common names repeat.
Common tasks
Section titled “Common tasks”Set what a signal does
Section titled “Set what a signal does”Both decisions — which actions a block may take, and flag-or-block per signal — are on Fraud Management → Fraud Settings, described there.
Check a member
Section titled “Check a member”Open the member and go to the Linked Accounts tab. Each row is another account, with Matched on naming which signals fired.
Read that column before acting. Two accounts matched on Same bank account number is one person. Two accounts matched only on Same IP address is usually nothing at all.
Each signal is coloured by what your brand does about it, not by how strong it is in general. Red and solid is a signal that is blocking, so it is one of the matches applying the actions you have ticked. Amber and outlined is recorded here and stopping nothing. The two differ in shape as well as colour, so the distinction survives a screen or an eye that does not separate red from amber. A signal you have set to Block still shows amber while every action under When blocked is unticked, because then it stops nothing either — the colour follows what is happening, not what is configured.
The export names the action beside each signal, since a spreadsheet has no colour to read.
A banner at the top tells you whether anything is currently being stopped for this member, or whether the matches are only flagged. It follows the same short delay after a rule change.
A counterpart you have since removed still appears, marked Removed. That is deliberate: removing an account does not stop it counting, or someone caught sharing a bank account could clear their own hold by deleting the other account. Without the row on this tab you would see a held payout with nothing to explain it.
Pay out a flagged withdrawal
Section titled “Pay out a flagged withdrawal”A flagged payout appears in Transaction -> Withdrawals with On hold - staff review under its status, naming the signal that flagged it.
Approving it shows a warning in the confirmation dialog saying what is shared. Linked Accounts in that warning is a link straight to this player’s Linked Accounts tab, opening in a new tab, so you can check before confirming - it’s hidden, not just disabled, if you don’t hold the fraud grant needed to view that tab. Confirming pays out normally - the warning is there so the decision is made with the information in front of you, not so the payout is blocked.
The flag stays on the row afterwards. It is the record that this payout was flagged when it was requested; who approved it anyway is in the activity log.
What it will not catch
Section titled “What it will not catch”Worth knowing so you are not surprised:
- Same device survives less than people assume, and more than they assume. Two signups in one private/incognito window still match, because the mark lasts as long as that window is open. It is a second private session, or clearing browser data in between, that starts fresh and breaks the match.
- Same browser signature is what covers that gap — it is not stored on the device, so clearing data does not reset it. Someone running a tool built to disguise a browser can still defeat it, and two identical handsets can trigger it by accident.
- Registration blocking cannot use either bank signal, because no bank account has been added yet.
- Nothing here identifies a person. It identifies a phone, a browser or a bank account, and a household can share all three.
The bank and withdrawal checks are the ones that hold up, because they run at the moment money is involved.
Who can do what
Section titled “Who can do what”An owner can always change these settings. A staff member can too, if their role carries the fraud write permission — the seeded Finance role does. Customer Service can read the member tab but not change the settings, which is usually what you want: answering “why can’t I claim this bonus” is front-line work, while changing what a signal does affects the whole brand.
For any other role, an owner grants it by ticking Change the fraud rules under Fraud Settings in the role editor.
Every settings change is written to the activity log.