As election season approaches, the National Association of Secretaries of State warns voters to beware of unsolicited text messages and phone calls asking for personal information or payment to complete voter registration forms. These types of scams can lead to identity theft, financial loss and compromised website security. In fact, one California county clerk warned residents to “Hang up the phone if someone says they need your Social Security number or other sensitive information to register you to vote.” It is illegal to register to vote by phone or email and voters should only use official methods like local government offices or mail to do so.
How to Prevent Fake Registrations on Your Website
Spam registrations can damage your site’s reputation, cause a delay in contacting genuine users and bog down your server resources by creating an excessive load on your database. Fake user accounts can also increase costs for your ESP, who may charge you extra for every new email address that appears on your list (which they then send to spam folders).
One of the most effective ways to prevent fake registrations is to limit access to the admin dashboard to specific users or groups. You can do this by going to the Membership settings and unchecking Anyone Can Register. This is the simplest way to protect your site from fake user registrations and spammers who want to tamper with your WordPress site. Other measures include implementing login security mechanisms such as reCAPTCHA or two-factor authentication, and requiring new members to answer a question or perform an action that a bot is unlikely to understand, such as answering a simple math problem or selecting the correct letters from a distorted image.


