12 Jun 2024

Top Tips for Chargeback Fraud Prevention

Every entrepreneur knows how important it is to prevent chargeback fraud, but what exact measures should you take to do that efficiently?
In this article, we will explore the top tips for preventing chargeback fraud and protecting your revenue.

There's an endless number of various factors that can endanger the financial stability of your company. Accidents, market shifts, cash flow issues — the list can go on and on. However, one of the most common and frustrating problems merchants face online is chargeback fraud. Refund fraud causes multiple monetary issues; moreover, chargebacks also stain your company's reputation and restrict the smooth development of your establishment, endangering the sole existence of your business. But how to avoid chargebacks?

Fortunately, there are effective ways to prevent such fraudulent activity. In this article, we will explain how chargeback frauds occur and give you efficient tips on chargeback fraud prevention to secure your business's revenue and good name.

How Does Chargeback Fraud Work?

Before continuing, we must answer the following question: What is chargeback fraud? Credit card chargeback fraud is a transactional dispute that occurs when a customer who previously paid for goods or services online via card requests a refund from their bank after receiving the purchase. A simple chargeback fraud example would be a situation where the customer obtains the product and later contacts their bank, stating the purchased item was never delivered.

Initially, the refund mechanism was created to defend the client's rights. Financial companies often leave information on how to do a chargeback on their official sites to ensure the safety of their customers' finances. However, now fraudsters frequently abuse the credit card chargeback system for their benefit. Although many refund requests are fraudulent, the issuing banks tend to approve them. An approved refund results in the cancellation of the financial transaction, for which the merchant is held accountable.

Chargeback fraud causes multiple tedious issues. The list includes:

  • Lost revenue.
    When a chargeback request is approved, the merchant is required to pay back the money received for the purchase. A single refund case might not affect your business; however, many chargebacks can cause more significant financial issues.
  • Chargeback fees.
    Additionally, when chargebacks occur, the merchant is obligated to cover the extra chargeback fee. These fees intend to make companies prevent chargebacks in the future, but they might become a significant issue for the business.
  • Increased fees from your payment processor.
    A significant number of credit card refunds might make the merchant unreliable in the eyes of the financial company. To ensure the safety of transactions, your payment processor might increase the fees required for the provided services.
  • The decline of customer flow.
    The large number of chargebacks might significantly damage your reputation as a merchant. As a result, new clients will refer to visibly more trustworthy companies, and even frequent customers might opt for another merchant option.

These problems can significantly impact small and large companies, disrupt their development, or even eradicate them. Thus, to protect the business's reputation and prosperity, one of every merchant's priority tasks must be to prevent chargeback fraud.

The Top Tips for Chargeback Fraud Prevention

Since we figured out what chargeback fraud is, it's time to discuss how to avoid chargebacks. Here, we explain how to prevent chargeback fraud by implementing various simple and advanced strategies. Look through our list of tips and find those that will benefit your company's chargeback prevention system.

Improve Your Customer Service

Many fraudulent chargebacks can be issued if your customer isn't satisfied with the service. Such chargebacks happen purely out of spite; still, winning the credit card payment dispute in that case might be difficult.
You can significantly decrease the number of such chargeback frauds by providing better customer service. There are several ways to improve client's experience you should consider putting into practice:

  • Offer various payment options
    Different customers prefer different payment types. By adding several payment options, you can make your product available to a broader audience. This will help you satisfy regular customers and increase the flow of new clients.
  • Establish a better communication system
    Make it easier for people to contact your company regarding various purchase-related issues. Ensure your responses are quick and straightforward. Additionally, you can create a page with the most common questions answered or implement an automatic chatbot to save your and your client's time.
  • Create a notification system
    Notifications with subscription renewal reminders or helpful purchase delivery information can help clients monitor their spending better. This strategy will improve the overall customer experience and minimize the risk of chargeback fraud.
  • Find a reliable shipping partner
    Often, clients issue the chargeback even before they receive their package. This happens when delivery takes longer than stated, which can happen due to the shipment company's incompetence. Find reliable shipment partners to deliver the product on time, keeping your customers satisfied and your reputation and revenue secured.
  • Improve your site template
    Sometimes, due to certain design choices companies make regarding their sites, customers might miss vital information about the purchase. Make sure your site presents the information appropriately. This will help customers avoid misunderstandings and prevent accidental and intentional chargeback fraud.
  • State your policies clearly
    One of the common fraud excuses customers use when they issue a card transaction cancellation is that they weren't aware of the company's policies regarding credit card payments. Create a separate page with your establishment's terms. Make sure you use various ways to make the information easier to read: add bullet points, highlight crucial details, etc. Additionally, add a button with a hyperlink to your policies on the checkout page. You can also add a check-box button that states the client read and agreed with your policies. This way, winning the chargeback fraud case will be significantly easier.

Analyze your customer service data regularly and be open to suggestions. Identify areas where communication breakdowns might cause issues that can lead to friendly chargebacks and address these problems proactively.

Collect Evidence of Your Reliability

Winning chargeback fraud disputes is often challenging; however, you have significantly better chances of canceling a card payment refund if you have evidence of competence. Here is some advice on convincing issuing banks of your trustworthiness as a merchant.

  • Provide banks with appropriate documentation.
    Gather evidence of the services being properly provided: add documents that include correct shipping information, package receiving confirmation, detailed transaction history, etc. This way, the issuing bank will be more convinced that a particular chargeback case is a fraud, which will secure your revenue and reputation.
  • Record conversations with customers.
    Maintain a record of communication with your customer throughout the transaction. This includes phone call records, email texts, messenger chat transcripts, etc. If you have communication records demonstrating your effectiveness as a seller and/or prove the client's misconduct, the chances of winning the card transaction dispute rise.
  • Collect positive reviews.
    Positive comments and testimonials of clients on your website can show your commitment to customer satisfaction. A considerable number of statements that show your competence as a merchant will help you build trust with the issuing bank. To obtain more reviews, you can ask clients to rate your service after their purchase and briefly describe their experience with your company. This will help you get a significant number of comments that prove your effectiveness, find weak spots in your service, and react appropriately.

There's always a chance that a chargeback won't occur, and the evidence of your reliability won't be needed. However, it's better to be safe than sorry. Gather proof of your competence before chargeback frauds occur, so if the bank issues a credit card refund in the future, you have a solid case to defend your interests.

Notice Chargeback Trends

Often, chargeback fraudsters employ the same strategy over and over again. By noticing these fraud patterns, you can prevent credit card refunds from occurring. Here is the list of safety measures you can employ to avoid chargeback fraud:

  • Identify recurring details.
    Reviewing your chargeback data regularly can help you identify recurring details, such as IP addresses, email addresses, billing addresses, etc. Noticing these repeating aspects can help you identify frequent fraudsters and deal with them before they commit another credit card fraud.
  • Create a client blacklist.
    Often, clients who commit fraud once repeat their crimes. By creating a blacklist of unreliable customers, you can block their ability to make purchases on your site and prevent the recurrence of credit card fraud. Regularly check your client base for fraudulent activity and update the list according to new information.
  • Look up information on chargeback strategies.
    Many unreliable purchasers implement specific chargeback fraud strategies regularly. Knowing the typical fraud schemes will help you notice suspicious activity and be prepared in case a credit card refund is issued.

Review your chargeback data regularly, paying attention to suspicious activity. Update information on chargeback frauds frequently and ban fraudsters to prevent financial losses.

Implement Chargeback Prevention Tools

Though monitoring chargeback activity is crucial for your business's stability, it can be tedious and extremely time-consuming. Fortunately, there's a simple solution to this issue. Chargeback prevention tools automatically handle refund cases, saving the team time and protecting the company's revenue.

There are a few more benefits chargeback prevention services can offer:

  • Enhanced productivity.
    By saving time, chargeback prevention services help your team dedicate precious hours to more critical and urgent tasks, free from worries about your revenue security.
  • Improved reputation.
    Chargeback fraud prevention services automize refund disputes, dealing with transaction cancelation cases faster and more efficiently. This results in faster chargeback resolution, which improves customers' experience and makes your company more trustworthy.
  • Professional data expertise.
    Chargeback services resolve various refund cases automatically and provide merchants with data analysis that allows companies to detect fraud trends. Such insights also reveal valuable customer behavior patterns the company can leverage to optimize other business areas.
  • Reduced operational costs.
    Chargeback prevention services significantly decrease credit card fraud, which helps companies avoid additional fees for refund transactions. Moreover, the low chargeback rate proves your reliability, which allows companies to maintain small processing fees. This way, merchants effectively secure their revenue and reduce operational costs.

Chargeback services are a paid solution; however, their fraud-prevention functions make them worth the investment. Analyze your company's chargeback data and consider partnering with a reliable chargeback prevention company to ensure the stable development of your business.

Reduce Chargebacks with Germius

Today's chargeback prevention sphere offers a wide variety of fraud-prevention instruments. However, finding a trustworthy and effective application among the endless list of options might be quite challenging.

Fortunately, we have recommendations regarding such services for you. Germius offers two reliable fraud-prevention tools (Verifi and Ethoca) that have proven their efficiency over time.

Verifi

Verifi is an excellent choice for companies that prefer Visa transactions. This fraud-prevention service offers several useful functions that will benefit your business in the long run:

  • Faster resolutions with Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR)
    Verifi's RDR system quickly analyzes disputes, allowing you to efficiently resolve fraud cases and properly address legitimate concerns. This helps merchants minimize fraud-related charges and improve overall customer experience.
  • Proactive defense with CDRN alerts
    Verifi's Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN) real-time notification alerts merchants when a potential issue arises. This function allows companies to address the problem and prevent its escalation proactively.
  • Enhanced transparency with Order Insight
    Verifi's Order Insight feature provides cardholders with detailed purchase information, minimizing misunderstandings and reducing the risk of friendly chargebacks. This transparency strengthens your brand's positive image, which helps to attract new customers.
  • Easy repeat offenders identification with C.E.3.0.
    Verifi's Compelling Evidence 3.0. (C.E.3.0.) equips merchants with the tools to detect repeat offenders who commit credit card fraud even after extended periods of legitimate transactions. This protects your business from deceptive fraud tactics and safeguards your revenue.

Implementing Verifi will help you organize your schedule efficiently, focusing on the most important tasks. Access this service today with Germius CRM.

Ethoca

Ethoca is a perfect chargeback fraud protection tool for businesses that choose Mastercard transactions. This fraud-prevention application offers several practical features, including:

  • Increased customer trust with Ethoca Consumer Clarity
    This feature fosters transparency by providing customers with clear and easy-to-understand descriptions of purchases on cardholder statements. This function significantly reduces confusion and prevents friendly frauds that arise from unclear transaction details
  • Increased awareness with Fraud Insights
    Ethoca's Fraud Insight function provides merchants with well-organized data analysis regarding past chargebacks, decline rates, and emerging fraud trends. This feature helps companies identify possible fraud threats in the future before the situation escalates.
  • Quick and efficient fraud prevention with Real-Time Alerts
    Ethoca's Real-Time Alerts keep merchants informed of potential disputes the moment they arise. This feature allows companies to resolve the problem with a customer before a chargeback is issued. This way, businesses get a chance to prevent various friendly frauds in situations with shipping issues or accidental policy violations.

Ethoca chargeback prevention features will aid your team in accessing tedious fraud cases, improving your customers’ experience and making your working environment stress-free. Try this fraud-prevention instrument today with Germius CRM.

Final Thoughts

Chargeback fraud is one of the most common issues merchants face online. Both friendly and malicious chargeback frauds can negatively impact the company's development, staining the brand's reputation and causing additional financial losses. That's why preventing credit card fraud is essential for your business success. Implement chargeback prevention strategies to analyze your chargeback data, find your weak spots, and strengthen your defense against chargebacks. Additionally, consider investing in reliable fraud prevention tools to optimize your company's monetary and time resources.