What is a VPN?
A virtual private network (VPN) is a tool that allows you to create a private, encrypted connection to conceal your internet activity and true location in the world. These types of tools are widely used by security-minded individuals and have been instrumental in accessing information and services when living in countries that censor their citizens' internet access.
In an always-connected world, we understand the need to protect ourselves online, and VPNs play an important role in keeping your data anonymous on the internet. While VPNs are helpful as an internet security tool, they have also been heavily adopted by people who commit many types of internet fraud, including fraudulent activity here on UserCrowd.
How can VPN use affect my account?
Companies that provide VPN services usually only have a few servers worldwide. When you connect to a VPN server, you're sharing that connection with thousands of people around the world. You and these thousands of users will all appear to share the same IP address, and will all appear to be in the same location/household.
If you are sharing a server with a user that has intentions of committing fraud here at UserCrowd, you will also appear to be linked to that user via your IP address. Our team regularly monitors accounts for fraudulent activity and removes access to testing on any linked accounts when these users are found. This can potentially lead to your account being flagged or permanently banned from taking tests here at UserCrowd, even if you haven't breached our terms yourself. There is no way for our team to tell if you're a valid user once you've been linked to a fraudulent one.
I regularly use a VPN—how can I keep my account from being flagged?
While we highly recommend you use a VPN when browsing the internet, we do not recommend using a VPN while taking tests here at UserCrowd. We go to great lengths to protect your identifiable data here on our servers, and we never share these details with anyone. You can feel secure while testing with us.
It isn't against our policy to use a VPN to connect with us, but the use of a VPN to hide your location because it differs from what is stated on your profile would be considered a breach of our testing rules. Accounts found in breach of these rules (and any accounts linked to them) will be permanently banned from future testing here at UserCrowd. If banned, you will lose any credit earned and any payouts you've requested will be rejected.