Introducing spam detection for webforms: An additional layer of protection to keep your Zoho CRM clean and secure

Introducing spam detection for webforms: An additional layer of protection to keep your Zoho CRM clean and secure

Greetings all,

One of the most highly anticipated feature launches—Spam Detection in webforms—has finally arrived!

Webforms are a vital tool for record generation, but they're also vulnerable to submissions from unauthenticated or malicious sources, which can lead to the collection of spam records that clutter CRM systems and reduce data quality. 

Zoho CRM's new spam detection capability provides an additional security layer and minimizes dependencies on the basic options such as captchas and double opt-ins, ultimately improving data quality of webform submissions. Users no longer have to check potential spam records from webforms manually.

Let's dive into how Spam Detection restricts suspected spam records from webforms and helps users keep their CRM clean and organized.

What does spam detection do?

Spam detection offers the following advantages:
  1. Simplifies the manual review of potential spam in webform submissions.
  2. Detects potential spam submissions by identifying invalid or suspicious email addresses and scoring them to indicate spam probability.
  3. Holds these possible spam records for manual approval from users.
  4. Automatically blocks spam records to keep them out of the CRM account.

What happens to webform submissions?

All webform submissions are evaluated against predefined criteria and screened for spam detection. Let's say you've received several webform submissions for the Leads module from your website visitors.

Clean, non-suspicious records that originate from verified IP addresses—and are therefore deemed likely to be genuine and valid—are fed into the Leads module (unless approval has been set for all webform submissions).

In contrast, suspicious submissions are flagged as potentially spam and held back for manual approval in the usual record approval page called, Awaiting Leads (previously known as Approve Leads). These records are assigned a Spam Possibility Score based on the identified suspicious factors. 

The new Record Source column provides details related to the submission's source—for example, the submission's IP address, the webform name, and the URL—when you hover over the info icon. 

The new Spam Possibility column indicates the spam probability for each record as a percentage. You can also view the top reasons behind the scores of the spam record by hovering over the info icon beside it. 


Each reason identified contributes to the score, and the sum is calculated to determine the final Spam Possibility Score for the record. Some of the reasons are listed below:
  1. Submission from bots/crawlers: If a bot or crawler fills and makes a submission via your hosted webform, the Spam Detection layer will automatically identify this malicious submission.
  2. Submission with invalid phone numbers: If a form respondent shares an incorrect phone number, a toll-free number, or a junk contact number, it will be flagged as an invalid phone number.
  3. Submission with invalid email addresses: If the submitted email address originates from a spam source, an unauthorized domain, or a temporary mailbox, it will be flagged as an invalid email address.
We're also introducing an advanced security layer: Honeypot Field, which is a cybersecurity mechanism that identifies bots by detecting submissions made to invisible form fields that genuine users don't interact with. If the submission comes with values filled in the hidden fields, the system flags the entry as likely being a spam submission.

Spam Detection has more parameters like these to detect spam submissions and assign appropriate scores. For quick probability recognition, the following colors represent the severity of spam possibilities:
  1. Green: 1% - 20%
  2. Orange: 21% - 70% 
  3. Red: 71% - 100%

How spam detection helps handle records awaiting approval

Previously, records that awaited approval were evaluated manually and then approved, merged, resolved, or deleted accordingly. In addition to these traditional actions, and with the introduction of Spam Detection, administrators can now optionally block IP addresses of records with high spam possibility scores if they want to restrict further submissions from them.

  1. The Block IP button is available, along with the other buttons like Merge, Approve, or Resolve.

  1. Admins can also directly block an IP by using the Block IP button available when hovering over the info icon.

Record submissions from such blocked IPs will be categorized under the new Blocked record category.
Additionally, Zoho's system internally maintains a set of blacklisted IPs based on security assessments. Records submitted from those IPs will be automatically and permanently blocked by the CRM.
Notes
Note: Records under the Blocked category will be deleted in 60 days.

How to enable Spam Detection for your webforms

While setting up a webform, you'll see the Spam Detection section where you can adjust the Spam Possibility Score slider to set the threshold at which records should be flagged for manual review.

A score range of 90% to 100% will be set by default for all webforms as the tolerance level, which the webform owner can change anytime based on their preferences.

NotesNote: Records whose spam possibility scores fall within the set range will be held for approval, along with the relevant percentages and reasons. If, say, the chosen range is 80 to 100%, only those records with spam possibility percentages between 80 and 100 will be listed. Submissions with lower percentages will not be held as spam.

We've revamped the record approval page to provide a better UI experience and make it easier to manage and review spam records. Let's look at the changes in detail.

Revamped record approval page

  1. In modules like Leads, the "Approve Leads" field under Actions has been renamed to "Awaiting Leads". This change extends to other modules as well.
  2. The approval page has been redesigned to make it easier to switch between categories and review all records. This enhancement applies to all webform-supported modules and team modules.

  3. The number of records in each category displayed prevents users from overlooking records that are awaiting approval.
  4. You can also filter these records using the new filters in the left panel on the Awaiting Leads page.
    1. Filter By Source: Filters records based on the source—webform or import.
    2. Filter By Spam Possibilities: Choosing the Webform option will enable this filter to list records based on the spam possibilities.
    3. Filter By Fields: Lists records based on these fields: Created Time and Record Owner.
    4. Filter By IP - Webform: Filters blocked possible spam entries based on whether a given record is blocked manually by a user or automatically by the system. This filter is available only under the Blocked category.
That concludes everything about spam detection in webforms. Feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.

Info
Availability 

Editions: All paid editions, including the developer edition (except for the paid trial edition)
DC: All DCs
Release Plan: This feature will be rolled out in phases. {Updated on Jan 30, 2026]

Regards,
Fiona

    • Recent Topics

    • I can not save new invoice

      Hello Now I am trying to save a new invoice but I can not save it because showing unpaid invoice warning which are not overdue. Please let me know how to skip unpaid invoice warning letter and save new invoice. Thank you

    • ADD CONDITIONS FOR FIELD IN ZOHO BOOKS TEMPLATE CUSTOMAZATION

      HELLO I WANT TO ADD CONDITIONS FOR FIELD IN ZOHO BOOKS TEMPLATE CUSTOMAZATION FOR SALES ORDER . I HAVE SET %StatusStamp% IF APPROVAL I WANT THAT TEXT TO BE DISPLAYED WITH GREEN COLOR OTHERWISE OF OTHERR STATUS RED COLOR AS SHOWN IN CODE BELOW . BUT IT

    • Accounting on the Go Series-55: Seamlessly Add New Vendors While Creating Transactions from Scanned Documents

      Hi there! We’ve made handling documents and vendors in Zoho Books even simpler. Now, when you upload a document and scan it, if the app detects a vendor that isn’t already in your organization, you don’t have to leave the page to add them manually. With

    • Accounting on the Go Series-57: Effortlessly Add and Manage Bank Accounts from the Zoho Books Mobile App

      Hi all, Great news for our users in the US and Canada! Managing your finances just got a whole lot easier. Zoho Books has always made it seamless to integrate bank accounts and fetch feeds automatically. Now, we’re taking it up a notch—directly from the

    • Accounting on the Go Series:58-Effortless Compliance: Download XML for Invoices & Credit Notes on Mobile

      Hi there! In Mexico, XML files are crucial for electronic invoicing and fulfilling SAT (Tax Administration Service) requirements. These files ensure your transactions are accurately recorded and tax-compliant. Now, you don’t need to rely on the web app

    • Auto Generated Invoice number YEAR

      Auto Generated Invoice number shows transaction year as 25 even though it's 24 still.

    • Books generiert keine valide XRechnung

      Hallo zusammen, ich möchte hier ein Problem ansprechen, das mir aktuell bei der Nutzung von Books erhebliche Schwierigkeiten bereitet, und hoffe auf Austausch oder Lösungsansätze von anderen Nutzern. Bei der Erstellung von XRechnungen mit Books treten

    • WHEN UPDATE ORGANIZATION INFO OLD INVOICES ALSO CHANGE INVOICING DATA

      Hi We have updated our tax information because we have become a company, up until now we were an individual. The problem is that when updating the data in the zoho books profile all the old invoices change their tax information as well. Is there a way

    • Invoice import error - duplicate customer name column - there are no duplicates

      It is not allowing the importing of any rows because of a duplicate customer name problem, but there are no duplicates in the custoemr name row. Has anyone dealt with this issue before?

    • [WEBINAR][Feb 2025] Automate your entire financial operations from receipts to reconciliation with Zoho Books & Zoho Expense integration

      Hello there, We are hosting a free, live webinar on the importance of travel and expense management solutions for businesses, and how Zoho Expense automatically syncs with Zoho Books to simplify your accounting even further. The webinar is on February

    • Customize Layout

      I am using "Customize Layot" for customize Quotation template but I try to add logo into the header by "%ScaledLogoImage%" code but dont add logo into header. what is problem?

    • Problem - cant add Users (i.e. Zoho one / CRM Users) to BCC or CC in email, i.e. Sales orders or Retainers

      I can go to zoho books email templates, and select any email template, and automatically include any Zoho One user, i.e. member of staff. However in the context of sending an email, it will not let us add a member of staff from the user list, instead

    • UK MTD ITSA

      UK Making Tax Digital for Income Tax I have had notice this is to apply from April 2026. What is Zoho doing about this? I will need to start planning to implement this in the next months so need an update as to what I will and will not be able to do in

    • Zoho Books Roadshows are back in the UAE!

      Hello there, Business owners and accounting professionals of the UAE, we’re coming to your cities! FTA accredited Zoho Books is now officially one of the Digital Tax Integrators in the UAE. With the newly launched direct VAT filing capabilities, we're

    • New user After moving over from QBO

      New user observations/suggestions. QBO took away a lot of features I was used to with the desktop version. Chaos ensued. Zoho Books has a lot of what I was used to and a bit more. Good deal Some things I have run into and suggest some upgrades. 1: The

    • Sole Trader - Financial Advisor (Appointed Representative) - Paid via Capital Account but no Invoicing...

      Hi. I'm about to venture into a new business after 12 months of intensive learning/exams. A little chuffed if I may say so especially at 52! I really like the look of ZoHo Books for my modest enterprise but I'm in need of some guidance, please. My services

    • Multi-Unit Inventory with Flexible Unit Selection (Purchase in One Unit, Sell in Another)

      We need multi-unit inventory management in Zoho Books with the flexibility to choose units (e.g., Box or Piece) at the time of purchase or sale. For example, if 1 Box = 10 Pieces, we should be able to record purchases in Boxes but sell either in Boxes

    • Disputed Purchase Invoices

      We have recently moved to Zoho Books from Sage. In Sage we were able to post a purchase/vendor invoice but mark it as on dispute. This would usually be a pricing query or if something was damaged. It would show in their ledger, so we could agree their

    • No TDS Deduction

      In some of our case, where we are reselling items at the same rate we purchased. In this scenario, Indian IT Law has a provision to request customer not to deduct TDS if the transaction value is same. TDS is paid by us (intermediary reseller) before we

    • CBSA - GST CHARGES on imports

      Hi there, We have a questions about landed cost categorization. We received a shipment from overseas. CBSA invoiced us for the GST on the items. Now we entered the CBSA-GST as a separate bill and attached it as landed cost to the main invoice based on

    • Zoho Books

      How do I manually insert opening balance?

    • Sales order & purchase order item links for item details

      This is fantastic for checking lots of things, I use it a lot. It would be great to see it extended to invoices & bills On another note, may as well throw in my favourite whinge ..... Wish you guys would get the PO receive differences sorted urgently,

    • Bank charges are applied. Please select a bank account.

      Hello, I'm trying to add bank charges to a customer payment, but I get the error message "Bank charges are applied. Please select a bank account." I found this old thread, where it says that I need to "select a Bank account for the 'Deposit To' dropdown

    • How to add receipts

      How to add receipts

    • Support for auto-upgrade in TrueSync (for Windows)

      WorkDrive TrueSync app now supports auto-upgrading to the latest version for Windows OS. You must manually download and install the TrueSync app version 3.4.0 to avail this feature. Download the latest TrueSync app for Windows (version 3.4.0) Supported

    • WorkDrive API Documentation

      WorkDrive provides users and developers an extensive set of APIs to help integrate functionalities of Zoho WorkDrive with other Zoho applications and third-party tools. We have published the official WorkDrive API Documentation page for all external users.

    • March 15, 2023: Zoho Docs is discontinued

      As of today (March 15, 2023) Zoho Docs is discontinued for all users. We would like to thank our customers for trusting us for so many years! Going forward, we're confident you'll enjoy using Zoho WorkDrive for all your advanced file management and collaboration

    • Introducing WorkDrive 4.0: Enhanced productivity. Advanced data administration. (Phase 1)

      Hello All, We're excited to share the release of WorkDrive 4.0, which includes important new features and enhancements focused primarily on productivity, secure collaboration, data administration, integrations, and user experience. Read the official announcement

    • External download link limit

      Can You please help us to understand this For Zoho WorkDrive external users, the download limit is a maximum of 5 GB total download size and a maximum of 50 first-level files and folders What is the meaning of first level? We are using these files in

    • Dynamically catching new file creations

      I have a team folder with many subfolders, and in those folders we add new documents all the time. I'd like to have a workflow or script to notify me (and then take other actions) when a file is added anywhere in that structure that ends in "summary.txt".

    • Rotate an Image in Workdrive Image Editor

      I don't know if I'm just missing something, but my team needs a way to rotate images in Workdrive and save them at that new orientation. For example one of our ground crew members will take photos of job sites vertically (9:16) on his phone and upload

    • Workflow workdrive rollout

      Hi! When will workflow be rolled out to all users? Thanks.

    • Creating and managing a Team Folder using WorkDrive TrueSync

      Hello everyone, Are you tired of constantly switching between your Desktop TrueSync app and the WorkDrive web app to create and manage Team Folders? We’ve made things easier for you. You can now create and manage Team Folders directly within the TrueSync

    • Edit images seamlessly with WorkDrive's built-in Image Editor

      Are you tired of switching between multiple tools just to make simple edits to your images? We understand the hassle, which is why Zoho WorkDrive now comes with a built-in image editing tool, powered by Zoho Annotator. This tool allows you to edit images

    • Supercharge your email workflow with WorkDrive's add-in for Microsoft Outlook

      Consider this: You’re handling a critical project, and your inbox is packed with important attachments, email threads, and client communications. The back-and-forth routine of downloading files to your computer, uploading them to WorkDrive, and manually

    • Secure and promote your content with Custom Watermarking

      Imagine this: You’re a professional photographer who regularly shares your work online with potential clients and collaborators. Recently, you notice that some of your images have been reposted without any credit or permission. This not only impacts your

    • Join us in Singapore for the Zoho WorkDrive User Group meetup!

      Hello, everyone! Exciting news! We'll be hosting an upcoming Zoho WorkDrive user group meetup in the beautiful city of Singapore this November. At this Zoho User Group meetup, we'll guide you through ways to use WorkDrive as a platform and build custom

    • WorkDrive TrueSync now supports ARM64-based Windows devices!

      We’re excited to announce that the Zoho WorkDrive TrueSync app now fully supports Windows devices with ARM64 architecture! Whether you're working on an ARM-based device or an x64 processor, you can now enjoy the same seamless file synchronization experience

    • Option to Disable Download for Documents Shared via Permalink

      Dear Zoho Writer Team, Currently, when sharing a Writer document using the regular permalink (Collaborators with external users), there is no option to restrict the ability to download the document. While the external share link allows such restrictions,

    • How to Download a File from Zoho WorkDrive Using a Public Link

      How to Download a File from Zoho WorkDrive Using a Public Link If you're working with Zoho WorkDrive and want to download a file using a public link, here's a simple method to do so using API or a basic script. This approach helps developers or teams

    • Next Page