If your site has been hit by a bot attack that caused a surge in fake sign-ups, this self-help guide walks you through recommended steps to review and clean your customer database, so you can restore data accuracy and keep your business protected.

1. In your Marsello admin, go to Customers > All Customers

2. To the right of the sort by feature, you will see a down-arrow icon. Click on this icon to begin your customer export.

Your export will automatically start downloading as a CSV file. It will be saved to your downloads folder on your computer.

1. Open your customer export in either Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets

2. Sort the customer export by the email address column.

3. Search for common identifiers of spam accounts:

As you identify suspicious accounts, copy those rows into a new blank CSV file for removal.

4. Return to your customer export and sort by the First Name column.

5. Look for:

Copy any suspicious rows into the same secondary CSV file.

6. Back in your customer export file, re-sort the export by mobile number

7. Search for common identifiers of spam accounts:

Again, copy any identified spam accounts into the secondary CSV file.

Now that you have created a file of spam customers, you can permanently remove them from your Marsello database using their Export ID.

1. In your Marsello admin, go to Customers > All Customers

2. From the Update Customer List drop-down menu select bulk remove customers by ExportId.

3. In the pop-up, enter the customers' Export Ids that you would like to remove from your Marsello database.

4. Please double-check the Export ID's that you've entered and then click Remove customers.

5. Click Yes, remove customers to confirm that you want to remove the group of customers.

The group of customers will no longer be part of your loyalty program or receive your marketing.

When a spam account is removed, it is no longer counted in your billing calculations. However, these accounts might still appear in your customer list if you apply certain filters.

To view profiles of deleted spam accounts:

Accounts marked as removed or deleted will not contribute to your billing total. This ensures you are only billed for legitimate, active customer profiles. By following these guidelines, you can efficiently manage spam accounts, ensuring clarity in your customer database and fairness in your billing. For further support, contact Marsello’s customer service.

Shopify has a feature called hCaptcha which helps prevent bots from creating fake customer accounts on your eCommerce store. hCaptcha analyzes visitor behavior on your storefront to detect and block spam bots. It helps protect your store without adding unnecessary friction for legitimate users by minimizing captcha prompts.

hCaptcha is automatically enabled on all Shopify stores and can appear on the following pages:

If you are on Shopify Plus, you can contact Shopify Plus Support to activate bot protection features, including reCAPTCHA.

reCAPTCHA, is built into all themes available in the Theme Marketplace and helps stop bots from signing up for customer accounts.

WooCommerce doesn’t include built-in account verification by default. However, there are several third-party plugins available (usually for an additional cost) that can help block fake account signups:

These plugins ensure customers verify their email address before their account is activated, adding a useful layer of protection.