What it can and can't do

No fraud tool stops all fraud, and any tool that stops fraud sometimes stops a real customer. Here is where FraudToad stands.

What it's for

Card testing: bursts of small orders that check stolen cards. It looks at the pattern across orders (one card on many accounts, many cards from one IP, a store-wide surge of tiny orders) rather than judging each order alone, because a card test often looks low-risk on its own.

It acts before payment is taken. With manual capture, a fraudulent order is voided rather than refunded: no settled sale, no chargeback, and no mark against your store's fraud ratios with the card networks. Chargeback tools work after a sale settles; FraudToad is complementary to them. Stop it before it settles, and use a chargeback tool for what gets through.

What it can miss

• One-off fraud. A single order with a stolen card, placed carefully, looks like a real customer. Shopify's own risk analysis (rule E7) is the main signal for those.
• Slow testing. A tester who uses one card very slowly can get a first cheap order through before the card shows up on enough accounts.
• Automatic capture. If payment is taken at checkout, the app can only refund, so card fees are lost.
• Orders older than the app. It only sees orders placed after it was installed, apart from the read-only test on past orders.

When it gets a real customer wrong

• Start in shadow mode, where nothing is cancelled, and switch to enforce when its holds look right.
• Most real customers who trip a rule are held, not cancelled: one signal alone rarely reaches the cancel threshold. A held order loses nothing; approve it and it ships.
• Repeat customers in good standing are allowlisted automatically and never cancelled.
• Every decision lists the rules that fired, so you can see why and loosen the rule in Settings.
• If a real order was cancelled, the customer's card was only authorized, not charged, and they can order again once you remove them from the blocklist.

Support

Use the contact details on the app's Shopify App Store listing. Include your store's address (yourstore.myshopify.com) and the order number if it's about an order.