Using BuzzCity ads (almost) got me banned from CPA

I'm no pro when it comes to CPA marketing, but last week I thought I'd be clever and try to get some mobile ads runnings targeting mobile optimized CPA offers to make a quick buck.

I used BuzzCity, simply because I knew I could get cheap clicks ($.01) and these were going to mobile only ads. So I set up 2 campaigns, a dating offer, and a free product giveaway thing. The former had a longer form to complete but had a higher payout, the second one just asked for the email. Both pages were optimized for mobile visitors. So I put my long link through Bit.ly, then setup corresponding ads to be run on BuzzCity's network (to the appropriate regions and categories).

So I figured if I could convert 1 out of every 150 people, I'd be profitable. Well sure enough, after $10 worth of advertising, I've got one conversion worth $1.60 between both offers. So I paused the advertising campaigns and reconsider my strategy.

I log onto my CPA account the next day (the network is going to remain nameless for now) and it shows my account has been suspended! And I haven't been at this for more than 24 hours, and it's a brand new account I'll add.

So I contact the right people and they tell me I was banned because my only conversation on a couple hundred clicks came through a proxy/ VPN. While at first glance, it would appear I filled out my own offer, I didn't. And I told that to these guys and they were nice enough to un-suspend me recommending I don't use the ad network I used (BuzzCity) again.

So that's where my dilemma is... Was I just extremely unlucky that my first conversation came though a proxy, or is using BuzzCity not safe for CPA offers?

I've still got some money in BuzzCity that I'd like to use, but I don't want to resume my campaigns and find myself quickly suspended again for something I had no control over.

Cheers.