Account Flags

Account Flags is your review queue for duplicate accounts: it groups customer accounts that look like they belong to the same person — shared cards, devices, addresses, phone numbers — so you can review the evidence, record a verdict, and act on multi-accounting or self-exclusion circumvention. Nothing is ever locked or blocked automatically; every action is yours to take.

Where to find it: Admin → Users → Account Flags (/admin/users?tab=account-flags). The Users item in the sidebar shows a badge with the number of groups waiting for review, and the Account Flags tab itself carries the same count.

How accounts get flagged

Every night the platform checks recently active accounts for signals that two or more of them are really one person. The signals you will see as evidence are:

• Same card — the same saved payment card on more than one account
• Same device and Same device (exact match) — the accounts have been used from the same device; an exact match is the stronger of the two
• Same checkout IP — orders placed from the same internet connection
• Same name and date of birth
• Same phone number
• Same address
• Similar email addresses — addresses that follow a suspicious pattern (for example name+1@, name+2@)

When enough signals line up, the accounts are grouped into a single case and added to the Pending list for you to review.

Because the check runs overnight, a new duplicate account typically appears here the next morning. If you don't want to wait, click Run check now at the top of the tab; the list refreshes as soon as the check finishes. This button only appears if your admin role includes permission to manage users, so some team members will not see it.

Read the queue at a glance

Three counters sit at the top of the tab:

• Pending review — groups waiting for a verdict. Turns amber while anything is outstanding.
• Urgent — groups that include a self-excluded account. Turns red when there are any; deal with these first.
• Accounts involved — the total number of customer accounts caught up in flagged groups.

Below the counters, each group appears as a card showing:

• overlapping initials for up to four members (a self-excluded member shows in red), with a +N bubble for larger groups
• a headline such as "Jane Smith and 2 others", the number of accounts, when the group was found, and when the latest signal arrived
• a red Possible exclusion circumvention tag if the group is urgent
• a match percentage showing how confident the check is
• evidence chips, one per kind of signal, with the strongest signals in red. When a group shares many signals of the same kind they roll up into one chip with a count, such as "Same device · 58"
• a short plain-English AI summary of the situation
• a status badge: Awaiting review, Confirmed linked, or Dismissed

Switch between Pending, Confirmed and Dismissed

The filter bar above the list has three status pills: Pending (with the waiting count in brackets), Confirmed, and Dismissed. Click a pill to switch lists:

• Pending — groups that still need a verdict. This is your working queue.
• Confirmed — groups you have marked as the same person. Come here to check past decisions or to re-review a confirmed group that has new activity.
• Dismissed — groups you have marked as not the same person. They stay out of your way here unless something material changes.

Find a specific group

The rest of the filter bar narrows whichever list you are on:

• Search finds groups by a member's email address or name — the quickest way to check whether the customer on the phone is in a group.
• Reason limits the list to groups sharing a particular signal: Same card, Same device, Same device (exact match), Same name and date of birth, Same phone number, Same checkout IP, Same address, or Similar email addresses.
• Group size shows only larger groups (3+, 5+, or 10+ accounts).
• Urgent only limits the list to groups involving a self-excluded account.
• Sort orders the list by newest signals (the default), highest match, or most accounts.

Filters combine, so "Same card, 5+ accounts, urgent only" works as you'd expect. If nothing matches, click Clear filters to widen the view again.

The list shows ten groups per page; use the Previous and Next buttons below it to move between pages.

You can also reach a group from the other direction: open any customer's record and, if they belong to a group, a Possible Linked Accounts panel appears with the match percentage, a preview of the evidence, and a View button straight into the review screen. Customers with no flags show nothing.

Review a group

1. Open Users → Account Flags and click Review on a group. The review panel opens with the group's status, match percentage, and (if urgent) the exclusion warning at the top, followed by the AI summary.
2. Start with Why these accounts were grouped — the evidence, shown as one chip per kind of signal:
   • Click a chip to focus on it: the list of accounts below narrows to only those sharing that signal, and the matching details on each account card are highlighted. A "Showing X of Y accounts" bar appears; click Show all to bring every account back.
   • A chip covering several individual signals (such as "Same device · 58") expands when clicked so you can select a single signal and narrow further. If a signal type has more than twelve entries, click Show all N inside the expanded chip to see the rest.
   • This click-to-filter flow is the quickest way to untangle a large group.
3. Compare the accounts side by side. Each account card shows the member's name, email, and current status (Active, Locked, Excluded (permanent), or Excluded until a date), plus when the account was created, date of birth, phone, saved cards, address, and order count. Details involved in the match are highlighted.
   • Accounts that have passed your photo-ID check carry an ID verified tag. When every account in the group is verified, a note at the top of the panel points it out — separately verified identities usually mean different people, such as members of the same household. Verification counts in a customer's favour, but most customers are never asked to verify, so read nothing into its absence. See ID Verification.
   • Click View account on any card to open that member's full customer record without leaving the review.
4. Check the Timeline, which tells the story in order: accounts created, self-exclusions, orders, locks. The sequence of events (excluded on Tuesday, new account created on Wednesday, first order on Thursday) is often the clearest evidence you have.
5. Record your verdict (below).

Understand the match percentage

The percentage shows how confident the check is that the accounts belong to one person, and it is colour-coded: amber at 80% or above (strong — usually several strong signals such as a shared card or an exact device match), blue from 50–79% (worth a proper look), and grey below 50% (weaker circumstantial matches). Treat it as a prioritisation aid, not a verdict — always read the actual evidence before deciding.

Record your verdict

At the bottom of the review panel:

1. Optionally type a note about your decision — a sentence on your reasoning is invaluable if the group ever resurfaces.
2. Click Confirm link if you believe the accounts are the same person, or Dismiss (not the same person) if not.

Your verdict is a record of your judgement only. It never locks, restricts, or contacts any account — the panel reminds you of this, and enforcement (locking) is always a separate, manual step.

After you confirm

The group moves to the Confirmed list. The platform keeps watching: if a new account matches a confirmed group, the case comes back for review automatically and is marked urgent. When you open it, a "New since this group was confirmed" banner spells out what changed, and the confirm button becomes Reviewed, keep confirmed — click it to record that you've looked at the new activity, or Dismiss (not the same person) if the group turns out to be innocent after all. Recording either decision clears the urgent flag.

After you dismiss

The group moves to the Dismissed list and stays out of your way. It only returns to Pending if something material changes — a new account joining the pattern, or a genuinely new signal such as an exact device match. When that happens, both the list card and the review panel show a "New since dismissal" note describing exactly what changed, so you can assess the delta instead of re-reviewing from scratch. A family sharing a device may resurface like this when one of them buys again; take a quick look at what's new and dismiss again if nothing has really changed.

Dismiss a group without opening it

For obvious cases — a household you've already looked into, a weak single-signal match — every card on the Pending list has a Dismiss button next to Review. Clicking it shows a "Dismiss this group?" confirmation; confirm and the group moves straight to the Dismissed list without opening the review panel. If you want to attach a note to the dismissal, open Review and dismiss from there instead.

Lock an account from the review screen

When you decide enforcement is needed — most commonly a self-excluded customer playing through a second account — you can lock the offending account without leaving the review:

1. Find the account's card in the review panel and click Lock. (Already-locked accounts show a "Locked" label instead.)
2. The Lock User Account dialog opens. Choose a Lock Duration: 1 Hour, 24 Hours, 7 Days, 30 Days, or Permanent.
3. Type a Reason for Lock — this is required, and the Lock Account button stays disabled until you do. Be specific ("second account of self-excluded customer, group confirmed on 4 July"); the reason is your audit trail.
4. Click Lock Account.

The lock takes effect immediately: the customer is logged out of all sessions and cannot access the platform until unlocked. It is the same lock used everywhere else in the admin area, so you can also lock or unlock from the customer's record — see Users.

Handle exclusion circumvention (urgent groups)

A group is marked urgent, with a red Possible exclusion circumvention tag, when one of its accounts is currently self-excluded. That can mean a customer who excluded themselves is continuing to play through another account — the most serious situation this feature detects, and a compliance matter, so review these first.

Urgent groups are hard to miss:

• The Urgent counter at the top of the tab turns red.
• A red banner appears on the admin Dashboard ("N account flags need review") and clicking it brings you straight to this tab.
• Tick Urgent only in the filter bar to see nothing else.

The Responsible Play page connects from the other side: when a self-exclusion alert relates to a customer who appears in a group, the alert's detail view shows a red "This customer appears to have other accounts" box with a View linked accounts link that opens the matching group's review panel directly.

A typical exclusion-circumvention review: open the group, check the timeline to confirm the order of events (exclusion first, new account after), confirm the link, then Lock the non-excluded account(s) as described above. If instead the "match" is a family member with their own genuine account, dismiss with a note.

Decide: same person or same household?

Some judgement calls come up constantly:

• Exclusion circumvention. Timeline order is king. A new account created and ordering shortly after a self-exclusion, sharing a card or exact device match, is rarely innocent. Confirm and lock.
• Duplicate accounts without exclusion involved. Check whether the duplicates breach your terms — claiming a sign-up offer more than once is the classic. Confirm the link, then lock or contact the customer as your terms require.
• Family members or housemates. Shared addresses, devices, and even cards can be legitimate. If the accounts have different names, their own order histories, and behave like genuinely different people, dismiss with a short note saying why. Two accounts that have both passed your ID check are the strongest version of this — the review panel points it out for you.

When in doubt, use the chips to isolate each signal, and let the timeline tell the story.

Where else flags appear

• Users sidebar badge — the number of groups waiting for review.
• Account Flags tab badge — the same pending count on the tab itself.
• Dashboard banner — a red banner that appears only while urgent groups exist, linking straight to this tab.
• Customer record — a "Possible Linked Accounts" panel on any flagged customer's record, with a View button into the review screen.
• Responsible Play alerts — a View linked accounts link on self-exclusion alerts whose customer is in a group.

Troubleshooting

I can't see the "Run check now" button. It only appears for admins whose role can manage users. Ask a colleague with fuller access to run it, or wait for the overnight check.

A customer is on the phone — how do I check whether they're flagged? Type their email or name into the search box on this tab, checking each status pill in turn, or open their customer record and look for the "Possible Linked Accounts" panel — if it isn't there, they aren't in any group.

A group I dismissed keeps coming back. Dismissed groups only return when something material changes, and the "New since dismissal" note tells you exactly what. Review the new detail; if it doesn't change your view, dismiss again — your earlier note will remind you of the original reasoning.

A confirmed group has turned urgent again. A new account has matched the group (or new activity was detected) since you confirmed it. Open it, read the "New since this group was confirmed" banner, and click Reviewed, keep confirmed to clear the urgency — or Dismiss (not the same person) if the new information changes your verdict.

The list is empty but I'm sure there are groups. Check which status pill is selected — a group you have already reviewed lives under Confirmed or Dismissed, not Pending. If a "No groups match the current filters" message shows instead, click Clear filters.

I reviewed a group but the customer can still log in. That's by design: verdicts are records only. To stop an account playing, lock it — see Lock an account from the review screen.

Two accounts I know are the same person were never flagged. The check needs signals it can see — shared cards, devices, contact details, or similar sign-up information. If the accounts share nothing detectable, no group is created. You can still lock either account manually from the customer's record — see Users.