Conflicts of interest & anti-fraud
Anti-fraud rules in the Scout Program don't exist to scare anyone. They exist so honest scouts don't share the leaderboard with cheaters. If fix bonuses could be earned by registering yourself through a VPN, the programme would be shut down in the first quarter. This lesson is a gate: without it, your account won't enable full Share.
The four main prohibitions
Self-invitation — registering through your own code from a second Instagram account; Trendweave detects this by device fingerprint, IP cluster and behavioural patterns, almost always within 48 hours, and the fix bonus isn't credited. Fake referrals — registering bots or empty accounts through your promo code; they won't pass the creator checklist, but the mass-attempt pattern alone gets the scout flagged. Poaching — DMing a creator already active under another scout to 're-register through my code'; if they're already tied to another scout, the fix bonus isn't credited and the poaching scout gets a warning. Misrepresentation of identity — 'I'm an official Trendweave representative', 'I work in HR'; the creator registers on trust in Trendweave, not in the scout.
Soft conflicts — not violations, but need attention
You're a creator and a scout at the same time — allowed, but don't invite yourself through your own code. You have multiple Instagram accounts — sharing through all of them is fine, registering through them yourself is not. You're recruiting a close friend or relative — allowed, but the platform looks at their behaviour like any creator's; if they don't activate, the fix won't unfreeze.
How Trendweave catches violations
Automated checks at every stage: click → registration (IP clustering), registration → first post (behavioural patterns), DM volume vs reply rate (mass-mailing pattern). Most violations are caught in the first 7 days.
What happens on a violation
First time — bonus revoked plus a warning in the dashboard. Systematic — Share function suspended for a period. A gross violation — permanent removal from the Scout Program.
Key takeaway: Anti-fraud isn't a scare story, it's protection for the honest. If you work by the rules, these checks are on your side: they cut out competitors trying to play dirty.
Next step: Accept the anti-fraud policy and pass the gating quiz. After Lessons 6 and 7, your Scout account gets full access to Share, and you can move to Stage 2 — Finding Good Creators.
- Learning outcome
- You know self-invitation, fake referrals, poaching and identity misrepresentation — and the sanctions for them.
- Action in product
- Accept the anti-fraud policy and pass the gating quiz.
- Success metric
- 100% acceptance + quiz pass (gating).
- Unlock / Reward
- Full Share access; Stage 2 unlocked.
- Format
- Video + case studies.