Online studies enable researchers to recruit large, diverse samples, but the nature of these studies provides an opportunity for applicants to misrepresent themselves to increase the likelihood of meeting eligibility criteria for a trial, particularly those that provide financial incentives. This study describes rates of fraudulent applications to an online intervention trial of an Internet intervention for insomnia among older adults (ages ≥55). Applicants were recruited using traditional (e.g., flyers, health providers), online (e.g., Craigslist, Internet searches), and social media (e.g., Facebook) recruitment methods. Applicants first submitted an interest form that included identifying information (name, date of birth, address). This data was then queried against a national database (TransUnion's TLOxp) to determine the application's verification status. Applications were determined to be verified (i.e., information from interest form matched TLOxp report), potentially fraudulent (i.e., potential discrepancy in provided information on interest form versus TLOxp report), or fraudulent (i.e., confirmed discrepancy). Of 1766 total interest forms received, 125 (7.08%) were determined to be fraudulent. Enrollment attempts that were fraudulent were detected among 12.22% of applicants who reported learning of the study through online, 7.04% through social media, 4.58% through traditional, and 4.27% through other methods. Researchers conducting online trials should take precautions, as applicants may provide fraudulent information to gain access to their studies. Reviewing all applications and verifying the identities and eligibility of participants is critical to the integrity of online research trials.

在线研究使研究人员能够招募大量多样的样本，但是这些研究的性质为申请者提供了虚假陈述的机会，从而增加了满足试验资格标准的可能性，特别是那些提供经济诱因的试验。这项研究描述了针对Internet干预（针对年龄≥55岁的老年人）进行互联网干预而进行的在线干预试验中欺诈性申请的比率。使用传统的（例如，传单，健康提供者），在线（例如，Craigslist，Internet搜索）和社交媒体（例如，Facebook）招聘方法来招聘申请人。申请人首先提交了一份兴趣表，其中包括身份信息（姓名，出生日期，地址）。然后针对国家数据库（TransUnion的TLOxp）查询此数据，以确定应用程序的“ 验证状态。确定申请是经过验证的（即，来自与利息表匹配的TLOxp报告的信息），潜在的欺诈性（即，所提供的关于利息表与TLOxp报告的信息中的潜在差异）或欺诈性的（即，已确认的差异）。在总共收到的1766种利息形式中，有125种（7.08％）被确定为欺诈性的。在通过在线举报学习的申请人中，有12.22％的人发现了欺诈性的入学尝试；通过社交媒体举报了7.04％；通过传统方式举报了4.58％；通过其他方法举报了4.27％。进行在线试验的研究人员应采取预防措施，因为申请人可能会提供欺诈性信息以获取其研究机会。