Same Error Across Multiple Shopify Stores – High Fraud Risk Rule / processing_error?

[kerimmmm]

Hello Shopify Community,

I’m experiencing a critical payment processing issue across multiple Shopify stores operated under the same UK LTD company.

The issue started suddenly on October 17, 2026. All stores were previously processing payments successfully, but now none of my customers are able to complete their purchases.

Multiple customers across several of my stores are experiencing the error:

“Error from Shopify Payments – Your card was declined”

The issue affects multiple payment methods, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay, and Klarna.

There are no visible restrictions, warnings, verification requests, or payment holds in my Shopify Payments settings.

Initially, the failed payment records only displayed the generic error:

“Your card was declined – processing_error”

However, when attempting to collect payment through Draft Orders, I discovered the following additional details:

Payment failure details:

• Network status: not_sent_to_network

• Reason: rule

• Risk level: highest

• Rule: block_if_high_fraudulent_payment_score

• Seller message: “One of your rules blocked this payment.”

This is particularly concerning because the payment appears to be blocked by a fraud prevention rule before it even reaches the card network.

Additional information:

• All affected stores operate under the same UK LTD company.

• All stores use Shopify Payments UK.

• Both regular checkout and manual Draft Order payments are failing.

• Multiple Visa and Mastercard cards issued by different banks have been declined.

• The same cards work successfully on other online stores.

• The issue started suddenly, despite a previous history of successful transactions.

• There are no visible restrictions on the Shopify Payments accounts.

• Our stores primarily target customers in the United States.

• Customers are currently unable to complete their purchases, resulting in lost sales and abandoned checkouts.

My main concern is that legitimate transactions may be getting incorrectly classified as high-risk and automatically blocked.

I would appreciate clarification on the following questions:

1. Why are payments being assigned the highest risk level and blocked before reaching the card network?

2. Is block_if_high_fraudulent_payment_score a Shopify Payments fraud prevention rule, a merchant-configured rule, or a payment processor-level rule?

3. Could the same UK LTD company operating multiple Shopify stores cause a shared risk restriction?

4. Is there a way to identify why legitimate customers are being classified as high risk?

5. Can Shopify Support investigate whether these transactions are false positives and determine why the issue started suddenly?

6. Has anyone experienced this specific rule blocking payments across multiple stores, and how was it resolved?

This is a business-critical issue. We are actively running advertising campaigns, but customers cannot complete checkout, causing lost revenue and wasted advertising spend.

If anyone from Shopify Support or the Shopify Payments team sees this post, I would greatly appreciate guidance on escalating this issue to the appropriate technical or risk review team.

Thank you.

[Cyrus5]

Two possibilities here: either the payment gateway is declining the card at the network level (common with prepaid and non-matching billing country), or Shopify’s own risk system is flagging the account. Start by checking Settings > Payments for a banner, then try a small test order with a card from the same country as the store address.

[JohnQQ]

Your diagnostic work has identified something specific: a fraud rule is blocking transactions at Shopify Payments level before the card networks even see them, affecting multiple stores under the same company simultaneously. This is well beyond a typical card decline.

The pattern you’re describing, especially the simultaneous “highest” risk flagging across multiple accounts starting on October 17, suggests this could be tied to your parent company entity rather than individual store behavior. Your suspicion about shared risk restrictions across stores under the same company is worth investigating directly with Shopify.

Contact Shopify Support and provide the exact details you’ve already collected: the rule name (block_if_high_fraudulent_payment_score), the network status (not_sent_to_network), the timestamp when it started, and the consistent risk level. That data will help route you to the payments team who can review whether your accounts were flagged by their fraud assessment system and help you understand why legitimate transactions are being blocked.

If this helped, mark it helpful for others.

[michael.agntwrk]

On your question about the rule: Shopify Payments doesn’t let merchants create or edit payment risk rules, so a block with risk level “highest” and network status not_sent_to_network comes from the processor’s own risk scoring. The payment was stopped before Visa or Mastercard saw it, and only Shopify Support can review that.

One thing to check before you talk to them: whether there was a burst of failed payments in the day or two before 17 October, many attempts with different cards, often for small amounts. Card-testing bots are a common reason a processor starts treating a store’s payments as high risk. If you find one, include it in your case, and say that every store under the company is affected so they review them together.

[kerimmmm]

no there is no bots trying cards etc. i was getting regular orders, then it suddenly stopped. after that i tried with my own cards (5 different card) neither of them passed. I talked with the support yesterday, i had to wait. Sad thing is; shopify and stripe support is too slow

[kerimmmm]

no banner, %0 chargeback, and regular customers trying to buy products. problem still happening i had to wait. unlucky support is too slow

[Cyrus5]

(post deleted by author)

[Cyrus5]

No banner and a 0% chargeback ratio points away from your card processing and towards an account-level risk flag — the rule is blocking before the network ever sees the transaction, so nothing on your checkout settings will show it.

Two things that actually move this:

1. Escalate as a payments risk review, not a support ticket. In Shopify Support chat, say: “All payments are being blocked by the rule block_if_high_fraudulent_payment_score, network status is not_sent_to_network, consistent across all stores under this account since October 17, chargeback ratio 0%.” Ask explicitly for the Payments Risk team to review the account-level flag. Front-line support cannot clear it, which is why it feels slow.

2. Keep revenue moving in the meantime: enable Shop Pay or PayPal as an alternative so legitimate buyers are not fully blocked while the flag is reviewed.

If you paste your store URL here, I’ll run a free scan of the storefront and tell you whether anything on your side is adding friction to those blocked buyers.

[kerimmmm]

(post deleted by author)

[kerimmmm]

They replied to my ticket and say; I want to reassure you straight away: nothing is wrong with your stores. Everything is working exactly as it should be. Your stores are healthy. Please don’t worry — if anything changes or you see something that looks genuinely unusual, we’re here.

Its like a joke, i dont know what to do

[kerimmmm]

ITS CRAZY, THIS KEEP HAPPENING AND SUPPORT SAYS EVERYTHING IS GOOD! IS THERE ANY SHOPIFY REP HERE? WHO TAKES IS JOB SERIOUSLY?

[frankybiz]

At this point, I would stop making so many attempts with the same cards and checkout sessions. Whatever is wrong, probably won’t be fixed with another attempt lol. Give it a few days. There is no immediate harm in pressing pause, eat some ice cream, and take a chill pill.

[kerimmmm]

It wasn’t me trying these attempts, its a normal customer. Its really amazing that they can see all of this and still say everything is good. I think i will stop my ads for now

[kerimmmm]

Hey, problem still happening. Customers trying to buy but all of their cards are declining. support says everything good but here is the screenshots:

[Cyrus5]

If support says the account is clean but real customers still get declined, the useful next step is evidence, not another test checkout.

Three things worth sending in the ticket:

1. The exact timestamps and the last four digits of two declined cards.
2. Whether those attempts appear in your admin under abandoned checkouts with a risk label — that tells you whether the block is at Shopify Payments level or at the issuing bank.
3. The error string from the checkout page (processing_error vs. a card decline), which routes to a different team.

Ask them to escalate to Payments Risk specifically, and include the store handle plus those timestamps. General support cannot see risk rules, so repeated replies to them will keep looping.

[ShopifyWithShafi]

@kerimmmm That sounds really stressful, especially with ads running. Your Draft Order details are the most useful clue here: “not_sent_to_network” means the card was never sent to Visa or Mastercard. The block happens inside the payment processor’s risk system, so new cards, new customers or test orders won’t get through until that flag is cleared.

Here’s what I’d do, in this order:

1. Keep sales coming in with a separate payment provider

Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay and Klarna all run through Shopify Payments on your store, which is why they’re all failing together. Adding PayPal (Settings → Payments) gives customers a route that doesn’t go through the same risk check. Set it up on your best-selling store first and test it with one real order.

2. Pause or reduce ad spend until a test order goes through

Every paid click that hits a blocked checkout costs you money and can push the risk score up further, because the system sees even more declined attempts.

3. Send support the payment IDs, not only card details

Open one of the failed Draft Order payments and copy the payment or transaction ID shown with the failure details. Send 3–5 of those IDs, from at least two different stores, in one email reply on your existing ticket, with:

• The exact rule name: block_if_high_fraudulent_payment_score

• That it affects every store under the same company since 17 October

• Your request: “Please have the Shopify Payments risk team review the account-level flag. Front-line checks show the stores as healthy, but the payment records show the processor’s rule blocking every payment.”

A payment ID lets them look up the exact decision. “Everything looks healthy” usually means they checked the store, not the payment records.

4. Think back to what changed around 16–17 October

A risk score rarely jumps for no reason. Things that commonly trigger it:

• A new store added under the same company, or a new product type or niche

• A change to the business details, bank account, website domain or return address

• A sudden spike in traffic or orders from a new ad campaign or a new country

• Products with a much higher price than usual

If something like that happened, mention it in the ticket yourself. It helps them find and clear the flag much faster.

I hope it’s sorted soon. Please update the thread when you hear back, because others with several stores under one company will run into the same thing

[jmaxxx_1]

Did this ever clear up? Support told you everything is fine while your Draft Order details show the rule blocking every payment, so it can help to paste that exact support reply into the same ticket next to one failed payment’s details. That puts the contradiction in writing in one place, which is easier for the next person to act on. A short daily note of how many checkouts failed also shows the impact if it gets escalated. Is it still happening across all the stores?