Hello,
I went through archive of forum discussions on orders flagged as medium risk.
I did find the reply by @JoesIdeas in this thread to be quite useful:
https://community.shopify.com/c/payments-shipping-and/what-should-i-do-with-my-first-medium-risk-order/m-p/2534042
However, I haven’t seen a discussion of “medium” risk flagging that has every parameter OK (CCV, Billing address match, 1 payment attempt, shipping addy near placement of order, no proxy, and IP address very near location of shipping of billing and ship addy), and still I get the:
Some characteristics of this order are similar to fraudulent orders observed in the past.
What could those characteristics possibly be? I don’t see Shopify identifying any of them.
I did reach out to customer via e-mail and telephone, and did some googling. I believe all info is legit. Obviously, it’s always a risk (sometimes slight, sometimes less slighlt).
What am I missing here? Is this just a random AI thing? Could it be related to the customer’s actual Shopify account? (Maybe he or she has purchased and returned or contested orders in the past?). Something else I’m missing?
Your thoughts or comments appreciated
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Sometimes Shopify’s fraud analysis can throw a “medium risk” flag even when all the obvious signals look fine. It might be something like timing of the order (odd hours), a card number that was once linked to fraud in the past, or simply a pattern Shopify’s system associates with risky behavior. So yes — it can feel a bit random at times.
You definitely did the right thing by contacting the customer directly. A good extra step is to ask for a small piece of verification, like:
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A screenshot/photo of the last 4 digits of the card they used (this protects you if it turns into a chargeback, since a fraudster usually can’t provide it).
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A simple ID or utility bill if the order is high enough in value.
This way you’re covered and can feel safer approving what looks like a legit order.
By the way, I’ve been working on a solution that gives deeper insights into each order than Shopify’s built-in flags — it shows what’s good, what’s risky, and lets you run customer verification flows all in one place. It’s called FraudGuard and might be useful if you’re looking for more clarity and protection.
