How NewForm Reduced Manual Account Bans by 90% and Protected a Community Built on Trust

About NewForm

NewForm is a mobile platform built on the belief that community is healing. Originally launched as the Phoenix app in 2021 – growing out of The Phoenix, a community organization supporting people in recovery from substance use since 2006 – the platform rebranded as NewForm in early 2025. It  expanded into a marketplace model, connecting over 100 partner organizations with a shared member base. Members use the app to find peer support, attend in-person and live-streamed events, and participate in digital communities built around their recovery journey. With close to 700,000 downloads and between 50,000 and 60,000 monthly active users, NewForm serves members who depend on the platform to be genuinely safe.

Challenge

By 2023, NewForm observed instances of fake account creation that exceeded the organization’s near-zero tolerance threshold, prompting a focused response. Generated email addresses made it easy for bad actors to create accounts and gain access to the platform’s community. NewForm implemented a layered approach to trust and safety early on, combining IP geolocation checks with keyword flagging to identify and address bad actors. Over time, it became clear that each method carried limitations: geolocation introduced unnecessary friction for legitimate members like VPN users or those outside North America, and keyword flagging depended on a time-intensive manual review process. Bans were applied case by case, but without a way to prevent re-registration, the same actors could return.

“NewForm exists to be a safe, trusted space for our members, it’s something we care deeply about. When it became clear that bad actors were getting in and the tools we had weren’t enough to stop them, we knew we needed a better solution.”

Jen Weiner, Systems Architect, NewForm

The overhead was significant – close to a full-time role consumed by manual reviews – and the outcome was limited. Phone verification, applied to all members trying to access in-app features, added a further layer of unnecessary friction for the majority of users who posed no risk.

• Fake account creation: Generated email addresses used to register and bypass existing controls
• Ineffective manual ban process: Close to a full-time role consumed by reviews, with banned users returning the same day
• Friction for legitimate members: Blunt controls blocking genuine users and creating unnecessary barriers to access

Solution

NewForm evaluated the full market before selecting SEON. The deciding factor was the depth of signals available at registration: specifically, the ability to check the age of an email address and identify how many social media accounts were associated with it. Newly created email addresses with no digital footprint are a reliable indicator of fake accounts, and no competing platform offered that kind of signal breadth. SEON’s cross-platform flagging, identifying users already flagged on other platforms in its network, was another key consideration, as was its focus on stopping bad actors before they entered the app rather than managing them once inside.

Key reasons included:

• Email intelligence: Email age and associated social media accounts used to identify suspicious registrations at the point of sign-up
• Cross-platform flagging: Users already identified as problematic on other platforms in SEON’s network flagged at registration
• Custom rules with zero-score testing: Rules created and scored at zero first, letting the team test hypotheses in observation mode before assigning real weight
• Collaborative scoring support: SEON’s team worked directly with NewForm to refine thresholds and introduce new signals over time
• Affordability: Best-fit capabilities at a price point accessible to a mission-driven platform

Alongside its core fraud detection capabilities, SEON also helped NewForm rethink how phone verification fit into the member journey. Previously a requirement for all members accessing in-app features, it was moved to the registration process and used only as a second-stage check for accounts the system flagged as needing review. The majority of members now pass through without it, reducing verification costs and removing a barrier that had been creating unnecessary friction for legitimate users.

Results

NewForm set a target of reducing manual account bans by 50% within one quarter of implementing SEON. They hit 90%, measured approximately 90 days after going live. The team member who had spent close to a full-time role on manual reviews now monitors the platform periodically and handles rule updates, with remaining capacity redirected to product enhancements and other growth work.

With bad actors stopped at registration before they can reach members, the platform can be marketed with genuine confidence in its security; this matters especially to the partner organizations and vulnerable members it serves. Verification costs have also fallen, with phone checks now used only as a targeted second-stage tool rather than a blanket requirement.

• 90% reduction in manual account bans within 90 days, against a target of 50%
• Fake accounts blocked at registration before they can reach members
• Verification costs reduced by repositioning phone checks as a second-stage review tool
• Team capacity freed and redirected to product development and growth

Conclusion

With bad actors stopped at the gate, NewForm can scale, market itself more effectively and bring new partner organizations on board knowing the community it is serving is protected. For a platform built on the belief that community is healing, that protection is not just an operational improvement. It is what makes the mission viable.

“We have more capacity to focus on product enhancements, and we feel like we can market the app more effectively because we know it’s a secure platform. For organizations serving people who are struggling, that guarantee that their members will be safe is a huge value.”

Jen Weiner, Systems Architect, NewForm