What is signup abuse?
Signup abuse is the creation or operation of accounts in order to take a product benefit a genuine customer would pay for or earn. Fake signups, free trials claimed under fresh emails, bots filling the registration form, referral bounties paid to fictional friends, and duplicate accounts all belong here. The same cluster is often called account creation fraud or new account fraud. The damage starts at registration, before the account is a real customer, which is what separates it from account takeover (someone stealing a real customer's login) and credential stuffing (leaked passwords tested against the login page at scale).
What Dregs is built for
Dregs is built for the mess that shows up at signup: fake users in the registration form, freeloaders burning through free trials on a fresh email each time, bots filling the form, junk filling the user table, referral programs paying the same person twice, launch credits and signup coupons collected more than once, and one person running several duplicate accounts. Whether you call it fake signup detection or fake account detection, the job is the same: score the identity at the moment of submission, then let custom rules and lists decide what happens, with less manual review than combing the user table by hand. Scores land moments after new activity, and every score opens into its observations so you can see exactly why an account was flagged and catch false positives before a legitimate signup is punished.
In every one of those cases, nobody's login was stolen. Somebody simply signed up under false pretenses, often several times over, with the serene confidence of a guest who expects the free tier to go on forever. Account takeover and credential stuffing are the opposite case: a real customer's login has been stolen, or leaked passwords are hammering the login page. Dregs catches both from the events you already send, but if the pain on your SaaS is junk in the user table, trials that never convert, or a launch credit collected on a loop, start on the signup side.
How this differs from related problems
Three jobs get mixed together under "fraud detection," and only one of them is why most teams pick Dregs.
Where to start
If junk is landing in your user table, start with the pages below. If the verification texts are the line item that moved, start with SMS pumping. Keep the account takeover and credential stuffing pages for when a real customer's login is the incident.
Free Trial Abuse
The same person claiming the trial under a fresh email, linked back to the trials that came before.
Fake Signups
Junk registrations with thin profiles and disposable inboxes, scored at submission.
Bot Detection
Signup bots creating accounts at scale from rotating IPs and inboxes.
Referral Fraud
Self-referral and fictional friends collected for a bounty on both sides.
Promo and Coupon Abuse
Launch credits and signup coupons collected more than once, from the same device.
Duplicate Accounts
One operator behind several accounts, connected through shared devices and behavior.
SMS Pumping
Verification codes that nobody completes, added to your SMS bill.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the difference between signup abuse and account takeover?
A: Signup abuse happens at and around registration, in the form of fake users, trial cycling, bots, duplicate accounts, and referral fraud, and the account itself is the problem. Account takeover happens to a real customer whose account was already legitimate, when someone steals that person's login. Dregs is built for the signup problem. It covers stolen logins too, but that isn't why most teams pick it.
Q: Does Dregs detect credential stuffing and account takeover?
A: Yes. Credential stuffing is leaked passwords hammering the login page; account takeover is the outcome when one of them works and someone else is inside a real customer's account. Dregs scores both from the events you already send, though most teams choose it for what happens at registration. If the traffic you care about is hitting registration rather than login, start with fake signups, signup bots, and free trial abuse.
Q: Does Dregs prevent payment fraud or chargebacks?
A: Dregs is built for signup abuse and account quality: fake signups, freeloaders, bots, and duplicates. Catching those earlier in the funnel can also reduce downstream payment fraud and chargebacks, because fewer bad accounts ever reach a card. It doesn't replace Stripe Radar or dispute tooling, though, since Dregs doesn't decline cards, process payments, or manage chargebacks.
Q: Where should a SaaS operator start with Dregs?
A: If the pain is fake users, freeloaders burning free trials, stacked promo credits, or duplicate accounts, start with free trial abuse, fake signups, bot detection, referral fraud, promo abuse, and duplicate accounts. If the pain is the verification bill, start with SMS pumping. Keep the account takeover and credential stuffing pages for when a real customer's login is the incident.
Further Reading
Stop fake signups, trial cycling, and junk accounts.
Dregs helps you catch fake signups, freeloaders on the free trial, bots filling the form, referral abuse, and duplicate accounts. It scores each registration at the moment of submission and opens every score into its observations, so you can act before junk settles into your user table. Cutting that abuse earlier can also reduce downstream payment fraud and chargebacks.
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