How to Prevent Spam and Fake Orders in WooCommerce

Do you want to prevent spam and fake spam orders in WooCommerce? If you are looking for a simple guide, keep reading this article.

Spam can cause significant damage to your website, particularly to eCommerce sites. Regardless of the security mechanisms you use (software, scripts, tools), fake orders can cost a lot of money to your business and also affect your SEO ranking and credibility.

That’s why today, we’ll show you how to prevent spam and fake orders in WooCommerce, and we’ll have a look at the best security tools you should be using.

Interesting Facts About Spam in eCommerce

Fraud and spam in eCommerce are becoming increasingly common. But when looking at some statistics, the impact on the businesses is shocking:

• Over 45% of all emails sent daily are spam. Many of these messages target online stores, trying to trick owners or collect sensitive data through fake order alerts or login prompts.
• Spam bots create up to 20% of fake user registrations on unprotected WooCommerce sites, which can distort analytics and increase server load.
• Checkout spam is one of the most common forms of WooCommerce abuse. Attackers often use automated scripts to submit fake orders, test stolen credit cards, or inflate inventory data.
• Even contact forms are frequent targets for spam. Without CAPTCHA or honeypot protection, bots can flood inboxes with hundreds of junk messages daily.
• Search engine ranking can suffer from spam comments. If bots post links to low-quality or malicious websites in your product reviews or blog comments, it can negatively affect your site’s SEO.
• Spam prevention saves both bandwidth and storage. Blocking bot traffic early reduces database clutter and improves site performance.
• Modern spam often uses AI tools. Advanced bots now generate realistic user data and text, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish them from genuine shoppers, and highlighting the importance of layered spam protection.

Why Do You Receive Fake Orders in WooCommerce?

Spam and fake orders are one of the worst nightmares for every WooCommerce store owner. These fraudulent orders are typically placed by bots and scripts, often involving large amounts.

Additionally, they usually target stores with the Cash on Delivery option enabled because they need to provide less information.

Some other times, the goal of fake orders in WooCommerce is to deceive store owners. For example, they may place an order for a product that needs to be shipped, but when the product reaches the destination, the address doesn’t exist.

On the other hand, hackers also use spam orders to try to find vulnerabilities in plugins. This is precisely what hackers did with a vulnerability found in WooCommmerce not long ago.

WooCommerce 4.6.1 and previous versions were vulnerable to an exploit that allowed guest users to create accounts during checkout, even when the “Allow customers to create an account during checkout” option was disabled.

This way, bots created accounts and placed fake orders to discover vulnerabilities in other plugins on the site. For more information about this issue and how to resolve it, refer to this post, which explains everything about the WooCommerce 4.6.2 vulnerability.

That’s why you must implement security measures and authenticate orders to prevent spam and fake transactions in your WooCommerce store.

How to Prevent Spam in WooCommerce

There are several ways in which you can prevent fake orders in your WooCommerce store. Let’s have a look at the most effective ones to keep your store safe.

1) Set Basic Anti-Spam Settings

The first step in preventing spam in your WooCommerce store is to set up basic anti-spam settings. Let’s have a quick look at some of the things you can enable:

• In your WordPress admin, disable the ‘Anyone can register’ option in the Settings > General section. Please note that this only affects the admin side, not the WooCommerce registration forms.
• In the Discussion section, uncheck the option “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)” for new articles.
• Make sure you approve the comments before they’re published. You can use plugins like Disqus or enable the Comment author must have a previously approved comment option to avoid spammy comments.
• In the WooCommerce panel, you can disable the ‘Allow customers to place orders without an account’ option to ensure that every order has a valid email address.

After ensuring you have the basic anti-spam settings in place, you can implement additional security measures.

2) Additional Measures to Prevent Fake Orders and Registrations

Apart from the basic anti-spam settings, you can implement additional measures to minimize spam orders and registrations in your WooCommerce store.

2.1) Create a Custom Registration Page that Spam Bots can’t Recognize

The typical target for spammers is the “https://yoursite.com/wp-login.php?action=register” page. So, by customizing the registration page, it will be harder for spammers to find it. To achieve this, you can utilize free plugins such as WPS Hide Login or LoginPress.

2.2) Admin New User Approval

With a plugin like Profile Press, you can manually approve new users from the dashboard or directly from your email. Although this adds another task to your process, if you have a small business and want to have more control over your users, it may be a good idea to do so.

2.3) Use CAPTCHA

Nowadays, many stores use CAPTCHA to prevent spam in WooCommerce.

Completely Automated Public Turing test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart, also known as CAPTCHA, is software that requires the user to take a specific action to proceed to the next step. This way, it protects websites against bots and makes sure that the visitor is a human being.

A typical example of this is when you need to select images that contain specific figures, enter an alphanumeric code, or perform a mathematical operation. This makes the process slightly slower for the visitor, but it’s an excellent way to verify that a human is behind the operation.

The easiest way to add CAPTCHA to your site is by using tools such as Advanced noCaptcha & invisible Captcha or Passster.

2.4) Block IP Addresses

If most of the spam orders and registrations come from the same IP addresses, you can block those addresses from reaching your site. If you’re unsure how to do this, check your cPanel, as most hosts offer the option to block IP addresses.

3) Install an Anti-Spam Plugin

We also recommend using an anti-spam plugin to improve your store’s security. Some of the best plugins to prevent spam in WooCommerce are:

1. Akismet
2. Blocker
3. Titan anti-spam
4. No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA
5. NS8
6. Limit Attempts
7. Fake Customer Blocker
8. Honeypot Contact Form 7

Let’s have a look at what each of them has to offer.

3.1) Akismet

With over 5 million active installations, Akismet is one of the most effective plugins for preventing spam in WooCommerce.

This tool promises to block 99.9% of spam from getting to your store. It automatically filters the spam comments and checks them against a global database, protecting your website from malicious content. Additionally, it automatically checks all comments and discards those that appear to be spam.

Akismet is a freemium plugin. Once you activate it, you’ll have to get an Akismet.com API key to use. There are free keys for personal blogs and paid subscriptions that start at just 9.95 USD per month.

3.2) Blocker

This tool helps you prevent fake orders and keep fraudulent customers out of your shop. Blocker allows you to refuse orders from a specific IP address, state, and zip code, and add them to a blacklist.

When this happens, it will interrupt the checkout or account process, and the user will receive a notification explaining why the operation was blocked.

3.3) Titan Anti-Spam

Titan Anti-Spam is another popular plugin to avoid fake orders. This tool includes everything from anti-spam protection, a firewall, malware scanner, site accessibility checking, and threat audits.

It automatically blocks spam in the comments section and needs no CAPTCHA. You can also convert spam comments into regular comments. Additionally, it’s GDPR compliant, so it doesn’t store unnecessary information about the visitors.

Titan Anti-Spam is a blocking algorithm based on the ‘invisible JS-Captcha’ and ‘invisible input trap’ (also known as the honeypot technique) methods.

Please note that this plugin isn’t compatible with Disqus, Jetpack Comments, AJAX Comment Form, or bbPress.

3.4) Limit Attempts

This IP address blocker is very effective in preventing spam in WooCommerce. It helps you avoid brute force attacks, which are repeated attempts to access your website directed by software that can damage your site.

You can add and block IP addresses; hide login, register, and lost password forms for blocked or blacklisted IPs, and customize the error messages.

It’s compatible with Gravity Forms, ReCaptcha, Captcha Pro, and Captcha Plus.

This is a freemium tool. It offers a free version that works very well.

3.5) CleanTalk

CleanTalk is an excellent tool to stop spam in WooCommerce. This tool helps you block spam comments, registrations, fake contact emails, spam orders, bookings, and subscriptions. Additionally, it can check and remove existing spam comments and users and validate emails in real-time.

Additionally, CleanTalk prevents spam reviews in WooCommerce and spam emails via forms, ensuring your store is fully protected.

The best part is that this plugin offers a 7-day free trial and several premium plans, starting at just $12 per year.

3.6) Fake Customer Blocker

This is a security add-on for WooCommerce that helps you block emails, domains, new orders with errors or notices, and fake orders. It also allows you to inform users why they can’t continue with their orders and customize every message.

This is a premium plugin that costs 9 USD.

3.7) Honeypot Contact Form 7

With this addition to Contact Form 7, users won’t have to put a CAPTCHA, but it still maintains the anti-spam functions against bots in forms and shopping carts. This way, it avoids false orders in your store. And the best part is that it’s a free tool.

Gravity Forms Users

If you’re a user of Gravity Forms, we recommend that you go to the Options section and activate the Enable anti-spam honeypot feature, as it’s disabled by default.

Call the Customer

It may sound a bit invasive, but if your products or services are similar to assessments, e-books, or online courses, for example, calling the customer and speaking with them before the purchase can be a smart option.

This way, you’ll get to know their expectations and even provide them with tips or additional information about the product or service they’re interested in.

Some e-learning platforms, such as Open English, use this method. Platforms like UpWork also contact their candidates and conduct interviews before accepting their profiles to prevent spam.

Verify the CVV Code of the Credit Card

The CVV code is the 3-digit code on the back of the credit card, and it must match the card that is registered to the account. If it doesn’t, it can be a fraud. This is a significantly extended verification method because it is both simple and effective.

User Email Confirmation

Another way to prevent spam in WooCommerce is to use plugins that require users to confirm their registration by clicking on a link sent to their email.

Users who haven’t activated their accounts are pending, and you can manually review and approve them. This is one of the safest methods because spammers don’t always get to that point.

Confirm Before Shipping

You can confirm all the order details via mail, text message, or phone call with the client. This will help you prevent fake orders in WooCommerce, and you can use it as a gesture of responsibility to your customers.

Verify the Address

You can also hire an Address Verification System (AVS). An AVS compares the billing address the user registered in the transaction with the address provided to the bank from the cardholder. Although this isn’t a bulletproof measure, it helps significantly to collate the data and minimize losses.

Tips and Best Practices to Prevent Spam in WooCommerce

• Use multiple anti-spam tools: Combine plugins like reCAPTCHA, CleanTalk, or Akismet to build layered protection and reduce spam entries.
• Keep everything updated: Regularly update WordPress, WooCommerce, and plugins to fix vulnerabilities that spammers may exploit.
• Hide your email addresses: Avoid listing plain email addresses on your site and use secure contact forms instead.
• Enable user verification: Require users to verify their email or phone number before completing registration to block fake signups.
• Limit form submissions: Add cooldown timers or submission limits to prevent bots from repeatedly sending spam requests.
• Install a firewall plugin: Use security tools like Wordfence or Sucuri to detect and block suspicious traffic early.
• Monitor user actions: Regularly review user activity, comments, and orders to identify spam patterns quickly.
• Filter and moderate reviews: Enable moderation for reviews and set keyword filters to flag spam content automatically.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Relying on a single anti-spam tool: Depending only on one plugin or captcha can leave gaps in protection. Combine multiple methods for stronger security.
• Ignoring plugin updates: Outdated plugins or themes can contain vulnerabilities that spam bots exploit. Always keep your site components updated.
• Disabling guest checkout entirely: While it may seem safer, this can hurt conversions. Instead, add spam filters or CAPTCHA to protect the form.
• Not moderating product reviews: Allowing automatic publishing of reviews invites spam and fake testimonials, which can harm brand credibility.
• Overusing CAPTCHA: Too many CAPTCHA challenges can frustrate genuine customers. Strike a balance between usability and protection.
• Skipping backup routines: Without regular backups, recovering from spam attacks or data corruption becomes significantly more difficult.
• Ignoring suspicious activity: Failing to monitor sudden spikes in signups, comments, or failed logins can delay your response to ongoing spam attacks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Now, let’s examine some frequently asked questions and their answers regarding this topic.

Conclusion: Prevent Spam and Fake Orders in WooCommerce

All in all, fake orders are becoming more and more common in eCommerce and can be quite costly for your business. That’s why you must implement security measures to prevent spam in your WooCommerce store.

If you can authenticate the orders, you’ll have a great chance of stopping spam on your site. Apart from saving you some money, it will also help you keep your store clean of irrelevant or potentially harmful content for both you and your users.

Besides, if you avoid fake orders, emails, and registrations, you can concentrate on what matters the most: growing your business.

Need some help with that?