The rule

VPNs, proxies, Tor and any other tool that hides or changes your real location are not allowed while you use Shark Earnings. This is not a preference we would bend for a good reason - it is a condition of the partnerships that fund the platform.

Why it is not negotiable

Three separate problems come out of a masked IP, and only one of them is about you:

• Our partners pay by country. Almost every offer and survey is bought for a specific market. A completion that appears to come from the wrong country is worthless to the advertiser, and they reverse it. When that happens the coins are removed from the account that earned them - see what a chargeback is.
• It is the standard multi-account tool. Nearly every serious attempt to farm the platform with fake accounts runs through a VPN. Blocking them removes the easiest route, which is why the rule sits alongside the one account per person policy.
• Reversed conversions cost everyone. Too many of them and a partner cuts the whole site off, not just the account responsible. The offers other members rely on disappear.

Apps that trigger detection without you knowing

Most flagged accounts never deliberately installed a VPN. These are the usual culprits, and it is worth checking all of them before assuming something worse:

• Antivirus suites with a bundled "secure browsing", "web shield" or "private connection" feature. These route traffic through the vendor and read exactly like a proxy.
• Ad blockers on mobile that install a local VPN profile to filter traffic. Very common on iOS and Android.
• Browser built-ins such as Opera VPN or a privacy-focused proxy mode left on from an earlier session.
• Work or school networks, which frequently route everything through a corporate proxy.
• Free public Wi-Fi in hotels, airports and cafes, which is often flagged for shared or previously abused addresses.

On a phone, open your network or VPN settings and look for an active VPN profile. Turning it off and reloading the site is usually the entire fix.

What happens if you are flagged

Detection is not a single switch. A flagged connection increases the scrutiny on your account: earnings may be held for review rather than credited straight away, and repeated or deliberate use is treated as a Terms violation.

Under the anti-fraud addendum of the Terms of Service, a confirmed violation can mean suspension or a permanent ban, withholding of the earnings involved, and a permanent block on the device fingerprint and IP address. That is the ceiling, not the automatic outcome - see what happens if an account is banned for fraud.

Frequently Asked Questions