Mystery Ads is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding your personal data.

1. Information We Collect

• Registration data — username, email address, and password (stored encrypted)
• IP address — used to help diagnose server issues, prevent fraud, enforce the one-account-per-person rule, and gather broad demographic information
• Activity data — pages surfed, banners submitted, credits earned, login timestamps
• Payment details — payout account information (Wise, Skrill, Revolut, or Stripe) provided voluntarily when requesting a commission payout. We do not store credit card numbers.
• Cookies — used to maintain your login session, remember your referrer, and personalise your experience. No third-party advertising cookies are used.
• Referral source — the domain you visited our site from, used to help members track which promotional sources perform best

2. How We Use Your Information

• To operate and improve the Mystery Ads platform
• To send transactional emails (account verification, payout notifications, referral alerts)
• To process commission payouts accurately
• To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and terms violations
• To display your Gravatar avatar (fetched from gravatar.com based on your email hash)
• To contact you about important account or service updates

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. We do not use your data for any purpose beyond operating this service.

3. Cookies

Mystery Ads uses cookies strictly for functional purposes:

• Session cookie to keep you logged in
• Referral cookie (ma_ref) to track which member referred you — expires after 30 days

You may disable cookies in your browser settings, but doing so will prevent you from logging in to your account.

4. Data Retention

Unverified accounts that are not confirmed within 2 days are automatically deleted. Active member accounts and their associated data are retained for as long as the account remains open. Upon account cancellation, your data may be retained for up to 90 days for fraud prevention purposes, then deleted.

5. Security

Passwords are stored using bcrypt hashing and are never stored in plain text. We use prepared SQL statements throughout to prevent injection attacks. All form submissions include CSRF token validation. While we take reasonable precautions, no internet-based service can guarantee absolute security.

6. Children

Mystery Ads is not intended for anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If you believe a minor has registered, please contact us immediately and we will remove the account.

7. Your Rights

• You may update your account information at any time from your member dashboard
• You may request deletion of your account and associated data by contacting our support desk
• You may opt out of non-transactional emails by contacting support

8. Third-Party Links

Our platform displays banner advertisements linking to third-party websites. Mystery Ads is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any site you visit through our platform.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Continued use of Mystery Ads after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

Questions about your data? Contact us via our support desk.