What Are Residential Proxies?
Residential proxies route traffic through real home internet connections, making malicious traffic appear legitimate:
- Look like real users - Residential IP addresses
- Geographic flexibility - Appear from any location
- Hard to detect - Pass basic IP checks
- Used for abuse - Bots, fraud, scraping
Why They’re Dangerous
Traditional bot detection fails because residential proxies:
- Use real ISPs - Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, etc.
- Pass geo-checks - Can appear local
- Avoid datacenter blocks - Not from AWS/Google
- Enable scale - Millions of IPs available
Common Abuse
- Sneaker and hype product bots
- Account creation for promo abuse
- Sophisticated scraping operations
- Fraud with identity masking
How Detection Works
SecurEcommerce uses ProxyCheck.io’s advanced detection:
Detection Signals
- Known residential proxy providers
- Traffic pattern analysis
- IP reputation databases
- Behavioral indicators
Providers Detected
- Bright Data (formerly Luminati)
- Oxylabs
- Smartproxy
- GeoSurf
- NetNut
- Many others
Implementation
Enable Residential Proxy Detection
- Open SecurEcommerce
- Navigate to Blocking > VPN/Proxy
- Enable advanced proxy detection
- Select blocking mode
- Save settings
Detection Accuracy
Residential proxy detection is less certain than VPN detection because:
- IPs rotate frequently
- New providers emerge
- Detection databases update continuously
Consider using warn mode first to assess impact.
When to Block Residential Proxies
Strongly Recommended
- Limited product releases
- High-value inventory
- Sneaker/streetwear drops
- Promo or discount periods
Use Caution
- General store traffic
- International customers
- Privacy-focused markets
Combining Defenses
Residential proxy blocking works best with:
- Regular VPN blocking - Cover all proxy types
- Data center blocking - Stop obvious bots
- Rate limiting - Slow sophisticated attackers
- Purchase limits - Restrict per-customer quantities
Handling Edge Cases
Legitimate Users Blocked
Some possibilities:
- Using privacy-focused browsers with proxy features
- Corporate traffic routed unusually
- Legitimate privacy services
Response
- Clear messaging about why blocked
- Support contact option
- Manual whitelist for verified customers
- Consider warn mode
Monitoring
After enabling:
- Review blocked traffic sources
- Check for customer complaints
- Verify known bots are blocked
- Adjust sensitivity as needed