Self-referrals happen when an affiliate uses their own referral link to sign up as a customer and earn commissions on their own purchases. This is one of the most common forms of affiliate fraud.
How It Works
When a new referral is created, Affonso checks whether the customer's email matches any email associated with the referring affiliate — including their account email and payout method emails. If there's a match, a fraud event is created.
Three Modes
Configure Self-Referral Detection in your Risk Center Settings:
Off — No detection.
Detect — The referral stays active and earns commissions, but a pending event is created for your review. This is the default mode for new programs.
Block — The referral is automatically rejected. Commissions are still calculated but created with a Declined status, so you have a full audit trail. You can manually change a Declined earning to Approved if the block was a false positive. Webhook events (transaction.created and transaction.rejected) are emitted so external systems stay in sync.
Reviewing Flagged Events
Self-referral events appear in your Risk Center with the matched email visible. From there you can confirm it as fraud (reject the referral and decline commissions) or resolve it as a false positive if the match was coincidental.
Things to Keep in Mind
- Self-referral detection is enabled in Detect mode by default for all new programs.
- Detection compares against multiple email addresses associated with the affiliate, not just their login email.
- Affiliates don't see why a referral was rejected — they only see the status change.
Need help? Contact support for guidance on handling self-referral cases.
