Contents
- Why Discord alt accounts are hard to detect
- The most important warning signs
- How Lizbot rates joins: the risk score
- 1. Turn on alt account detection
- 2. Create a review channel for the team
- 3. Choose the right action
- 4. Set up quarantine instead of a ban
- 5. Set a minimum account age in verification
- 6. Review the join log and invites
- Handling a suspicion without a wrong verdict
- Checklist
- Common mistakes
- FAQ
You ban someone for insults, and two hours later a new account posts in the same tone in the same channel. Second accounts, usually called alt accounts, are the most common way to get around a ban on public servers. They are also used for vote rigging, entering giveaways several times and inflating invite counts.
There is no reliable detection: neither Discord nor a bot can show you which accounts belong to the same person. What you can do is read warning signs, slow down fresh throwaway accounts and review suspicious cases calmly. In this guide you set this up with Discord's built-in tools and with Lizbot, and you learn how to handle a suspicion without driving away genuine newcomers.
Why Discord alt accounts are hard to detect
A Discord account is quick to create: email address, name, done. A ban only ever hits the one account someone used on your server. Anyone who wants back in creates a new one and rejoins through a public link.
At the same time there are plenty of harmless reasons for a new account without a profile picture: someone has just signed up because of your server, uses a separate account for school or work, or lost their old password. Good alt detection therefore works with probabilities, not verdicts.
The most important warning signs
A single signal says little. Only several together form a picture:
- Account age: an account created a few minutes or days ago is the strongest signal. You can see the creation date in Discord when you open a profile, under "Member Since".
- No avatar: throwaway accounts almost always keep the default picture.
- Name patterns: names like
user48213orgamer_2025look like a quickly created account. A name that closely resembles the banned account is also a hint. - Invite: if several fresh accounts join through the same link in quick succession, there is often a single person or a group behind them.
- Timing: a join shortly after a ban or an argument is more suspicious than one weeks later.
- Behaviour: the same phrasing, the same targets, the same favourite channels. This signal is the most telling, but only people can judge it.
How Lizbot rates joins: the risk score
Lizbot turns the technical signals at join time into a risk score from 0 to 100. The points are made up like this:
FAQ
Can Lizbot reliably tell who owns an alt account?
No. No bot can see which accounts belong to the same person. Lizbot rates visible signals such as account age, avatar, name and invite. Whether a suspicious account really is an alt is for your team to decide.
Is alt account detection free?
Yes. Alt account detection, the join log, quarantine, the minimum account age in verification and ban appeals are included in the Free plan.
What is the difference between the two minimum ages?
The minimum age for alt accounts only raises the risk score; the account still gets in. The minimum age in verification stops younger accounts from being unlocked at all. Many servers use both: a lower value in verification and a higher one for the score.
Matching Lizbot features
- Verification bot for Discord with captchaNew members first only see the verification channel. They get access with a button, on a web page with a captcha or with a code by email.
- Moderation and AutoMod for DiscordEvery warning, timeout and ban gets a case number and a reason. Your team sees at a glance what has already happened with a member.
- Invite tracker for Discord: who invited whomLizbot shows who brought whom to your server and who actually stays. Real, left and fake invites are counted separately, and rewards only count real ones.
More guides
Let Liz handle it for you
Invite Lizbot, set it up in the dashboard, done. The Free plan stays free.
Rather ask first? In the support Discord