If your inbox is overflowing with junk form submissions, you’re not alone. Spam, fake leads, and automated messages are hitting more businesses than ever, and they’re getting harder to block.
Most of it’s easy to spot: casino links, adult content, foreign-language phishing attempts, and gibberish messages that read like they were typed by a cat walking across the keyboard. Most of it comes from disposable email accounts and sketchy domains. And all of it is wasting your time, screwing up your data, and bringing security risks you didn’t ask for.
And no, adding a CAPTCHA that makes users click on every grainy photo of a bicycle won’t fix it. You don’t need to play troll under the bridge, making people solve riddles just to get in touch.
Spam protection shouldn’t come at the cost of real leads. The goal is to keep bad traffic out while making sure the right people can still reach you easily.
Here’s why it’s happening, what you can do about it, and how to keep your contact forms spam-free without frustrating real users.
Why Contact Form Spam Is Getting Worse
AI Is Beating Spam Filters
Modern spam bots are powered by AI that can bypass most traditional defenses. They solve CAPTCHAs, check boxes, and mimic human behavior well enough to slip past standard filters. Even forms with built-in security are vulnerable because bots are evolving faster than most countermeasures.
Lead Gen Bots Are on the Rise
Automated tools are flooding websites with fake inquiries, sales pitches, and scraped data. Some are designed to find vulnerabilities, others to generate low-quality leads at scale. With cheap, plug-and-play bot services available to anyone, it’s easier than ever to launch mass spam campaigns without technical expertise.
High-Traffic Sites Are Prime Targets
If your site ranks well or gets steady traffic, it’s more likely to attract attention from bots. Many are programmed to scan the web for common form fields like “email” and “message.” Once they find your site, it can end up on repeat spam lists and see a spike in activity.
How to Stop Spam Without Killing Conversions
Spam protection shouldn’t come at the cost of real leads. The goal is to keep bad traffic out while making sure the right people can still reach you easily.
Your website serves as the strongest defense against spam. Stopping spam at the source keeps your site fast and secure. From there, you can layer in tools that protect forms, filter fake entries, and keep your inbox focused on conversions.
Use Cloudflare to Block Bad Traffic
Cloudflare helps you block malicious traffic before it hits your site, filtering out bots at the source. This protects your entire server from unnecessary load and potential abuse, improving performance and reducing costs.
- AI/ML-Powered Detection – Analyzes traffic patterns to identify bot-like behavior.
- Reputation Scoring – Blocks traffic from harmful IPs.
- Actionable Responses – Real-time firewall, challenges (Turnstile CAPTCHA), rate limits, logs.
Cloudflare offers a free plan with basic protection. Advanced features, like the Super Bot Fight Mode, are available in their Pro plan at $20 per month. That’s an affordable price to pay if it reclaims the time you’re spending dealing with spam submissions.
Upgrade to Google reCAPTCHA v3
Google reCAPTCHA is free to use. Unlike older versions, which require users to solve puzzles or check boxes, Google’s reCAPTCHA v3 runs in the background and assigns a spam score to form submissions. It stops spam without disrupting real visitors. While reCAPTCHA no longer stops all spam submissions, it doesn’t cause harm either, so it’s a net positive.
Use Builder-Specific Anti-Spam Tools
No matter which form builder you’re using, there are tools to help reduce spam. For WordPress sites, Gravity Forms is just one of many form handlers, and it offers a variety of useful integrations.
By default, the Gravity Forms Duplicate Field Check is enabled, and marking the field as “No Duplicates” is a great way to prevent the same email address from being submitted multiple times. Keep in mind that spammers sometimes randomize their email addresses, so it is recommended that you try pairing it with an email validator to ensure the validity of email addresses.
Another useful tool is Gravity Perks Blocklist, which lets you block specific words, email addresses, or domains. You can easily filter out spam phrases like “Get 1000 free followers,” block known bad domains like “@tempmail.org,” or stop submissions that include repetitive junk terms like “online casino” or “click here.”
Lastly, there’s the Gravity Forms Zero Spam plugin. It’s a lightweight option that claims to do a better job than the standard honeypot method, but it might not stop the most advanced bots.
Enable AI-Powered Spam Filtering
Tools like Akismet analyze submissions in real time and block suspicious ones before they hit your inbox. This is especially helpful for contact and lead forms on client sites with high-value conversions or those experiencing recurring spam. Akismet provides flexible pricing options starting at under $10/month, with more advanced features available at the Business plan.
Require Email Verification
For forms where lead quality matters, requiring users to confirm their email before submitting can filter out bots and fake entries. The cost to implement this depends on your email service provider; some offer this feature at no extra cost. This does increase friction for the user and can reduce the overall number of submissions, even the good ones, but it is also one of the most effective ways to counter spam.
Add a Honeypot Field
Using a Honeypot field can help you catch automated spam submissions because only bots can see them and fill them out. When that field gets filled out, it’s a clear sign of spam, and the submission can be blocked automatically. Implementing a honeypot is free in most form providers and should be the first step you take.
Monitor and Adjust Spam Filters Regularly
Spam tactics evolve, so your contact form security should too. Regularly check your submissions, fine-tune your filters, and stay one step ahead of unwanted traffic.
What You Can’t Control (But Should Plan For)
- Spam Won’t Go Away Completely – No system is perfect, so some junk will always slip through.
- AI Bots Will Keep Getting Smarter – Spam filters will need to keep evolving.
- Not Every Solution Works for Every Business – Not every business needs the same level of spam protection, but for some, stricter controls are essential. High-traffic websites attract more spam simply due to volume.
- None of these tools block real people – Sometimes the spam is coming from someone manually filling out forms, copying-and-pasting in a misguided attempt at reaching out to the world. These submissions wouldn’t be blocked.
Looking Ahead: Smarter Spam Prevention Without Hurting Conversions
Spam is getting smarter. Your defenses should be too. You don’t need to scare off real leads with obstacle courses just to keep the bots out.
At First Ascent, we help businesses manage their websites, digital security, and lead generation. If your inbox has become a landfill for junk submissions, let’s talk about ways to protect your contact forms while keeping them easy for real users.