Patent ID: 8635692

Claim:
A computer-implemented method to restrict fulfillment of account creation requests, the method comprising: providing, to a first client computing device, a first instance of the software program identified by a first instance identifier (ID) value of a plurality of instance ID values for the software program, wherein the first instance ID value is stored within an encrypted and non-modifiable block of the software program and is uniquely associated with the first instance of the software program; receiving a first account creation request that includes the first instance ID value; associating the first account creation request with the first client computing device; upon determining, responsive to the first account creation request, that the composite condition for spammer detection is not satisfied, approving the first account creation request and creating a first account for the first client computing device, wherein the composite condition for spammer detection includes at least three of a plurality of conditions including: (i) a first condition of matching requests and specifying that a threshold count of account creation requests matching the first instance ID value have been received; (ii) a second condition of message send rate and specifying that a threshold rate of messages sent by one or more accounts of the first client computing device is reached; (iii) a third condition of spam complaints and specifying that a threshold count of spam complaints pertaining to one or more accounts of the first client computing device is received from one or more entities; and (iv) a fourth condition of challenge-response and specifying that a threshold count of challenge-response tests are failed by the first client computing device; and upon determining, responsive to the first account creation request, that the composite condition for spammer detection is satisfied, denying the first account creation request.