Is the Fraud Protection service on my store failing to decline orders?

Shopify Discussion
1

I have a question about Fraud Protection. I set this up on my store and set the CVV and AVS to automatically decline charges that fail this check. However, I am still getting international orders where the billing zipcode and 3-digit security code were not entered. I realize that not all banks use this feature, yet at the same time the customer SHOULD NOT be able to complete their order if this information is not entered. It appears that the Fraud Protection service is cherry picking and charging a 1% fee for the the easy to determine orders. However, the orders that really need this feature do not get it and all of the responsibility falls back on the seller. Am I missing something?

2

Hi @ElevatedGear

Sorry to hear you’re having issues with fraud on your store, it’s part of doing business unfortunately.

Can you tell us more about your issue? What’s your payment provider now? Do you use Shopify Payments, Stripe or another gateway?

3

I use Shopify payments. I am not experiencing fraud as much as trying to
protect from it. I have had several orders from Mexico lately and an
inquiry from Brazil. We sell to a specific niche of customers (Power
Linemen, Apprentices) and I do not want to limit my sales to the US.
However, trying to contact a customer in a foreign country who may or may
not speak English is not ideal. I do not understand why an order is even
allowed to process if the CVV and AVS cannot be verified.

Thanks,
Kevin

4

Thanks for sharing Kevin,

Verifying international orders in Shopify alone is very difficult at the moment. Like you said, AVS and CVV only apply with the customer’s bank has it enabled, which they state in the docs:

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments/configuring-shopify-payments

I’m currently developing an app that will cover this use case but it’s still in the works. Best things you can do in the meantime:

Background research on your customer:

  • Use Google Maps & Streetview to determine if the Shipping Address looks like a typical
  • Look up the carrier of the phone number if provided, is it a VOIP provider?
  • Is the customer’s name associated with the company?
  • Can you find any examples of the customer’s email on Google?

Verifying your customer’s credit card & phone number:

  • Asking your customer to provide their last 4 digits of the credit card they purchased with over SMS will verify both the phone number & credit card details t once
  • Since international texting might not work, perhaps try emailing the customer with the same question

Hope this helps

5

I am getting hammered by fraud. Support is sending me to Vietnam to find Fraud blocking apps that should be part of Shopify. We have a small store and am getting hit daily by high-risk customers using stolen credit cards that are being approved by processing, only to be discovered as fraud AFTER I shipped my product. In which case I lose and get charged back. Why can’t any attempted order assigned to a high-risk level just be blocked ? The app sends an e-mail to the customer explaining why it was blocked. I don’t want to do anything, just block the order. I have been charged back over a thousand dollars so far this month. I would rather lose a few good orders vs take losses.