Fraudulent
What This Means
The issuing bank suspects the transaction is fraudulent and has declined it to protect the cardholder. This is a serious flag that indicates either genuine fraud or an overly sensitive fraud detection system. SaaS businesses should not retry these without customer verification.
Retrying will likely fail again. The customer needs to update their payment method or contact their bank.
Common Causes
- 1Transaction matches patterns in the bank's fraud detection model
- 2Card was recently reported as compromised in a data breach
- 3Unusual spending pattern for this cardholder (e.g., first international purchase)
- 4Multiple rapid charge attempts that look like card testing
Recovery Tactics
- 1Do not automatically retry this charge
- 2Contact the customer through a verified channel to confirm they intended the purchase
- 3If confirmed legitimate, ask the customer to call their bank to authorize future charges
- 4Implement 3D Secure for high-risk transactions to shift liability
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FAQ
Does this mean the card is actually stolen?
Not necessarily. Banks use automated fraud detection that can produce false positives. The customer might simply be making an unusual purchase. However, treat it as potentially fraudulent until verified through a separate channel.
Will I get a chargeback if I force this through?
The risk is very high. If the bank has flagged it as fraudulent and you somehow push the charge through, the likelihood of a chargeback is significant. It is far better to verify with the customer first.
Should I block this customer?
Not immediately. Contact them first. Many fraudulent flags are false positives. If you cannot verify the customer through another channel or see other suspicious signals, then consider blocking.
How healthy is your Stripe account?
Get a free churn health report. Find pending cancellations, failed payments, and expiring cards putting your MRR at risk.
Run Free Audit