A residential proxy is a proxy server whose exit address belongs to an ordinary home or mobile internet connection, so websites see its requests as coming from a regular subscriber rather than a server.
Residential proxy networks are sold for scraping, ad verification and price monitoring. The same networks carry credential stuffing, sneaker bots and fake account creation, because their traffic blends in with real customers.
Why are residential proxies hard to detect?
Their exit addresses are the same addresses real customers use. They are not in datacenter ranges, are often not on blocklists, and they rotate quickly. Blocking one risks blocking the household behind it. Reliable detection usually needs data gathered from inside the proxy networks themselves.
How do you defend against them?
- Do not rely on the IP alone: check the email (disposable domain, domain age) and the phone number (validity, VoIP).
- Check the browser: a residential proxy hides the network, not the automation behind it.
- Look for behaviour real users do not show, such as many accounts from one browser or scripted timing.
How Hextner uses it
VerifIP has no dedicated residential-proxy feed, so most residential proxy traffic looks like an ordinary home connection to it. Its is_proxy flag covers known open proxies and anonymiser lists (see data sources). For residential proxies, lean on the other layers: VerifIP's email and phone checks, and DetectBT, which judges the browser whatever network it arrives from.
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