Alt Detection & GeoIP

Catch ban-evaders and keep unwanted connections out.

PhantomBans remembers the IP addresses players join from. That lets it link alt accounts, warn you when a banned player’s friend logs in, and (with GeoIP on) tell you where a player connected from or block them entirely.

Alt detection

When a player joins, PhantomBans can check whether their IP is shared with other accounts and alert your staff. This is how you catch someone making a second account to dodge a ban.


/alts <player>

Setting (config.yml)	What it does
`check-alts-on-join`	On join, check for shared-IP accounts and alert staff.
`notify-staff-on-join-banned-ip`	Alert staff when a player joins from an IP that has an active ban.

Alt detection finds accounts that share an address. That is a strong signal, but not proof. Use it alongside history and your own judgement before you act.

Risk score

Each player gets a risk score from their record and connection: past punishments, shared IPs, and so on. You see it on the lookup card, and staff can be alerted when someone joins with a very high score. It is a quick way to decide who to keep an eye on.

GeoIP: country and VPN checks

Turn on geoip-enabled to detect the country behind an IP and flag proxies and VPNs.

Setting	What it does
`geoip-enabled`	Master switch for all GeoIP features.
`block-vpe`	Block connections detected as a VPN or proxy.
`notify-staff-country`	Tell staff which country each player joined from.

Country rules

Under the geoip section you can allow or block whole countries by their two-letter code.


geoip:
  # Block these countries. Empty means block none.
  blocked-countries: []
  # If set, ONLY these countries may connect. Empty means allow all.
  allowed-countries: []

Use blocked-countries to keep specific countries out.
Use allowed-countries for a strict allow-list, where only the listed countries can join.

Country and VPN blocking are blunt tools. A real player on a VPN, or travelling, can be caught by mistake. Turn these on only if you understand the trade-off, and tell your players.

Screens for blocked joins

When a player is blocked by a country rule or a VPN check, they see a screen explaining why. You can edit the wording in screens.yml. See Messages & Screens.