Trends In Refund / Policy Abuse (2025-2026, Fraud Professionals)

The final set of fraud-related insights in this report zooms in on the specific type of fraud that has the highest overall incidence, claimed by 41% of merchants this year: refund / In contrast, only 10% cite a decrease and 26% say the rate of this type of fraud has remained fairly consistent, year to year. When asked what kinds of refund / policy abuse they are experiencing, most (52%) call out false claims that goods were not received. Over one-third also cite returns of used, Notably, MRC merchants seem to be struggling far less with refund / policy abuse. They are less likely to report any increase in this type of fraud (only 27% say this), and more likely to say their rates of refund / policy abuse are staying flat. Also, MRC merchants are less likely to report experiencing this kind of fraud via illegitimate returns - i.e., returns of used, damaged, incorrect, or counterfeit items, and late returns. These data points indicate MRC merchants may be better able to counter refund / policy abuse, at least when it comes to return-based attempts at this kind of fraud.