How to handle repeated obvious fraud attempts

Shopify Discussion
1

In the past few days we’ve had about a dozen obvious fraud attempts. We know it to be obvious fraud because the entered name is not a name, the emails used are burner accounts (“user” followed by four pseudo random numbers), the delivery address is over a thousand miles away (and we do not ship products), the item ordered is a half pound of beef fat every time (the cheapest item we offer), and they are flagged as high risk of fraud.

Currently I am just refunding them, but seeing as we’re at a dozen in two days (which is a lot for our small shop that receives less than one order per day), it presents an ongoing problem, which could rise to being a serious problem if the rate of attempts increases meaningfully.

I am aware of some of the apps that can reduce fraud, though I am concerned about losing legitimate sales if we apply them.

2

Hi @TLBS-SIC :waving_hand: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/fraud-prevention

If A > B, just ship or cancel B, otherwise block B and parts of A.

If your overthinking it then you can’t afford to ship fraudulent orders regardless of false positives.

3

Hi, @TLBS-SIC

You’re right to refund those suspicious orders — that’s actually the best move to help protect yourself in case of a chargeback later.

To help reduce the headache, you could try using a fraud prevention app. Set it up to flag or auto-cancel high-risk orders. It’s worth testing: if you notice the fraud attempts drop, great! You can always disable the app later if things settle down.

Best,

Owen