Most WordPress websites with a contact form get spam through it sooner or later. It usually starts slowly, then one day there are more junk messages than real ones.
What contact form spam looks like
- Offers to get you to the top of search results, redesign your website or write "guest posts".
- Links to dodgy websites, often in another language.
- Fake enquiries that look real until you reply.
- Messages that try to get you to click a link or sign in somewhere.
Where it comes from
Almost all of it is sent by spam bots. They find WordPress websites by the thousand, look for a form, fill in every box and press send. They don't read your page and they don't care what you sell, so a small business gets the same spam as a big one.
Why the usual fixes fall short
- "I'm not a robot" puzzles annoy real customers, and many spam bots get past them anyway.
- Blocking words or countries throws away real messages along with the junk.
- A spam folder you never check means real enquiries sit there unanswered.
What to look for in a filter
- It works before the message is sent, without asking customers to solve anything.
- It never loses a real message. If something is blocked, you can still read it.
- It shows you what was blocked and why.
- It works with the form plugin you already use.
A good spam filter is one your customers never notice.
How Rabbitproof does it on WordPress
The Rabbitproof plugin checks each visitor on your own server before a form is accepted. It works with Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms, Elementor, Fluent Forms and WooCommerce.
Blocked comments go to your Spam folder. Other blocked messages are kept on your website for 30 days, so you can read them and unblock the sender with one click. You can start in Log only mode to see what it would block before it blocks anything.
Filter contact form spam on WordPress
The Rabbitproof plugin is A$5 a month and works with the form plugin you already use.
RabbitproofBot and spam protection for small websites.
