Should I Cancel This Order? (medium fraud detection)

[Dominik219]

red pills are on:

1. Shipping address is 438 km from location of IP address

   2. A high risk internet connection (web proxy) was used to place the order

my conversation with customer by email:

Store-Hi --, We have just received your order and the fraud system has triggered an alert. Your payment information may be incorrect. We contact you to ask for clarification. Would it be possible for you to purchase our item with a different payment method?

Customer-What is it about the transaction that your concerned about?

Store-Our system detected that your Shipping address is 438 km from location of IP address. Let us know if everything is correct and we will send your order. Thank you and I am waiting for your message here.  

-we need your reply if everything is correct. Then we will send your order. Thank you.

What can I do in this case? The customer no longer responds, and I care about his order, he ordered two products.

[JoesIdeas · Accepted solution]

The interaction with the customer seems strange to me.

I ran a store for 7 years, if we had a risky order and the customer was weird about it, we would just cancel it (after learning the weird interactions sometimes turned into chargebacks).

If all they said was "What is it about the transaction that your concerned about?", that's a red flag to me:

- No pleasantries or human feelings ("Oh wow sorry, that's weird, maybe because I was using a VPN"... or some other explanation)

- Spelling error. People make mistakes but added in with the other flags of the issue it makes sense

- No followup response

If you have good brand most customers are excited to get the product, purchase from your brand, and interact with you. To give a robotic response would have me thinking something is off.

I recommend creating a system, an SOP your staff can follow, and tagging orders that are medium or high risk, so you can filter them later and get stats on what % of risky orders resulted in a chargeback / scam. Then adjust the strictness of your policy accordingly.

If you want some insights, here's a guide I wrote: How to Deal with Fraudulent Orders and Minimize Chargebacks on Shopify

Another tip: If losing the money from this order via chargeback will significantly hurt your business or cause you stress, just cancel it and move on. If you're comfortable accepting the risk that a chargeback may happen, then let it be and learn from the data / experience.

Another idea, for your system, consider calling the customer (or email them to have them call you, that will make them more comfortable). If they call, you can get a feel for if it's legit or not, and in the meantime have a valuable opportunity to get feedback about your store, the experience, and get to know your customers (getting real feedback from your customers helps a looooot for shaping your funnel and customer experience).

[Dominik219]

Thanks man, I'll wait till tomorrow, then just cancel the order.