I posted a pilot study,
Earn a promotion in combat with the CyberChicken- A video game task. for 10 participants. I had one finish early (10 min) and the task takes at least 25. The completion code was wrong as well. I asked him/her about it.
He/She said the link directed them to a “random survey about coca cola’s dasani water”, and was in very poor english. The survey also contained a link that directed the participant back to my study to enter the completion code that it provided. I sent the participant a direct link to my study so that it can be completed and he/she gets paid.
It looks suspiciously like a hack where someone can get data for free- intercept the webrequest to the study, direct them to a different study, and then send them back to the original to get paid.
I checked the html file on my study that is on the server and it is exactly as it is on my hard drive, so the re-direct didn’t happen there. He/She has said that they have contacted prolific with screenshots of the bogus study.