Bots and fake identities undermine user research

Imposters are increasingly disrupting user research, as remote recruitment and accessible AI tools make fraudulent participation easier, according to a report by TechRadar’s Kathren Neuss.

Remote research grew during the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained popular because it can reduce travel and logistical costs while reaching people across a wider area. But digital anonymity and low barriers to identity checks have also helped create a group of “professional participants” who use incentivized studies as a source of supplementary income.

Data from the Market Research Society’s Global Data Quality initiative found that 95% of surveyed qualitative researchers had experienced participant fraud in the previous 12 months. Fraudulent responses can distort study findings and obscure users’ needs. A 2025 case study reported that usable responses fell from approximately 75% to around 10% after fraudulent submissions entered the sample.

Neuss cautions against treating a lack of video or audio problems as proof of fraud, since participants may have legitimate accessibility or personal reasons. Instead, researchers can look for patterns, such as inconsistencies between screening answers and interview responses, repeated or unusual email addresses, and clusters of suspicious applications. None of these signs alone establishes fraud.

Researchers should exclude data from participants shown to have misrepresented their eligibility and review incidents with their teams, the report says. AI can contribute to fraudulent participation, but pattern recognition may also help identify repeated participants and suspicious response clusters.