If your site allows users to create new accounts in My account page as shown below, then you may experience SPAM registrations by bots controlled by hackers:
If your site is suffering from SPAM registrations, there are 3 main actions you can take:
- Prevent registration in My Account page
- Use CleanTalk service to filter out registrations by bots
- Convert your registration process into a double opt-in process
¶ Prevent Registration in My Account page
If your site is suffering from SPAM registrations, then you can consider preventing new account registrations in the My account page. Your real customers will still be able to create new accounts during the checkout process.
To prevent new account registrations in the My account page, navigate to the Accounts and Privacy tab in the WooCommerce settings then uncheck the checkbox as shown below:
¶ Use Cleantalk service to prevent registrations by bots
With Cleantalk active in your site, when a new user begins the registration process, wp2print queries the CleanTalk service to determine whether the new user requesting to create a new account is a real user or a bot. If CleanTalk responds that the new registration is from a bot, registration is stopped and no new account is created.
The CleanTalk process is completely transparent to the user and friction free. Thus it is simpler for users than a double opt-in registration process. There is no extra cost to you to use the CleanTalk service.
To implement CleanTalk, visit the Account Registration tab in the wp2print settings and check the checkbox Use Cleantalk to prevent spam registrations:
¶ Implementing double opt-in registration process
Switching to a double opt-in registration process should prevent almost all SPAM registrations. The flow for the the double opt-in registration process is as follows:
- Your customer visits the My account page and submits the Registration form
- The system will send an email to the user's email address
- The user receives an email and clicks the link in the email
- The system creates a new account for the user
Spammers and hackers typically use fake email addresses when they attempt SPAM registrations. With fake email addresses, steps 3 and 4 of the flow above are never completed so no new accounts are created.
To implement double opt-in registration process, visit the Account Registration tab in the wp2print settings. Enable the checkbox Validate email for new registrations then complete the subject and body content of the email the customer will receive as shown below:
Below is an exampe of the email a user will receive after they register for a new account in the My account page:
