# Reject Contact Form 7 Submissions Sent Too Fast

> Stamps each Contact Form 7 form with a signed time when it is shown and treats submissions sent within a few seconds as spam. People take longer than bots to fill in a form.

- Type: PHP
- Runs: Run everywhere
- Category: [Forms](https://wpide.com/library/category/forms/)
- Tags: contact-form-7, spam, time-trap
- Author: WPIDE Team
- Installs: 0
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Page: https://wpide.com/library/cf7-time-trap/

## Code

```php
$wpide_cf7_min_seconds = 4; // Minimum time between showing the form and submitting it.

add_filter( 'wpcf7_form_hidden_fields', function ( $fields ) {
    $time = (string) time();
    $fields['wpide_cf7_ts'] = $time . '.' . wp_hash( 'cf7-ts-' . $time );

    return $fields;
} );

add_filter( 'wpcf7_spam', function ( $spam, $submission = null ) use ( $wpide_cf7_min_seconds ) {
    if ( $spam ) {
        return $spam;
    }

    $stamp = isset( $_POST['wpide_cf7_ts'] ) ? sanitize_text_field( wp_unslash( $_POST['wpide_cf7_ts'] ) ) : '';
    $parts = explode( '.', $stamp, 2 );
    $valid = 2 === count( $parts ) && ctype_digit( $parts[0] ) && hash_equals( wp_hash( 'cf7-ts-' . $parts[0] ), $parts[1] );

    if ( $valid && time() - (int) $parts[0] >= $wpide_cf7_min_seconds ) {
        return false;
    }

    if ( $submission && method_exists( $submission, 'add_spam_log' ) ) {
        $submission->add_spam_log( array( 'agent' => 'wpide-time-trap', 'reason' => $valid ? 'Submitted too quickly.' : 'Missing or forged time stamp.' ) );
    }

    return true;
}, 10, 2 );
```

## Notes

Works with page caching because older stamps always pass; raise the seconds for long forms if you see false positives in the spam log.

## How to use it

Install the free WPIDE plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpide/), find "Reject Contact Form 7 Submissions Sent Too Fast" in its snippet library and add it in one click; or create a new PHP snippet in WPIDE (or any code snippets plugin) and paste the code above. More snippets: https://wpide.com/library/