I'm new to the board, but not to the biz.
I got a chargeback from a member subscription. When I checked the logs, I found that the user/pass was being used from multiple domains and IPs so I began digging. I found a listing on a bulletin board where the user/pass had been posted, along with several thousand others.
After some more digging, I found a few other BBS systems where other (current) passwords were also listed. Basically it amounted to almost half the traffic on the site was coming from freeloaders.
I've now started recoding part of the site to alert me when members login from more than a reasonable number of IPs or domains, or if I get logins to an account from countries other than the country where the membership is registered.
How do you guys deal with this problem? Is there a simpler way? I realise that slipping out free passes now and then can only be good advertising, but a lot of the people using these BBSs will never convert.
Oh, one last question: Can anyone recommend a good target site for popup hell that I can redirect these freeloaders to? Preferrably one that has NO exit loop!!!
Your thoughts appreciated.