Chargeflow, an AI-based chargeback platform used by more than 20.000 merchants, has introduced Prevent 2.0, the model that now powers its Chargeflow Prevent product. According to the company, the new version detects ten times more fraud and abuse than the previous generation. The release coincides with the launch of the Chargeflow Data Lab, which has published early findings on how dispute patterns change during the Black Friday period.
How Prevent 2.0 works
According to the official press release, the product scans each order for fraud and abuse after checkout and blocks orders flagged as risky before fulfilment, leaving the checkout experience unchanged. Merchants already using Prevent are moved to the new version automatically, with no configuration required.
All decisions are now made by the new model in the window between checkout and shipment. The update extends coverage to third-party fraud, such as the use of stolen cards, which is now assessed within the same decision as friendly fraud. In addition, the model also looks for suspect delivery patterns, including different names shipping to the same address, and has been updated to identify known repeat disputers, meaning buyers with a history of disputing orders they received.
Each decision draws on Chargeflow Network Intelligence, the dispute data the company observes across its merchant base. This allows Prevent to flag a buyer with a dispute history at other stores, even when that buyer places a first order with a new merchant.
The broader scope reflects the fact that most disputes do not involve fraud claims. Buyers frequently state that an order never arrived, was not as described, or that a subscription renewal was unintended, and Prevent 2.0 scans for these claim types as well.
Black Friday dispute patterns
The Data Lab’s initial reports are based on a study of about three million disputes across the last three peak seasons. Over the Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend in 2025, 34.7% of chargebacks cited orders that never arrived, a category that card networks classify as ‘item not received’. In a normal week, the figure was 19.9%. The same shift was observed in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Fraud claims moved in the opposite direction, falling to 27.2% of chargebacks over the weekend from 37.8% in a normal week. As a result, ‘never arrived’ claims outnumbered fraud claims on the busiest weekend of the season.
The data also indicates that merchants can contest these disputes. Of the ‘item not received’ cases that reached a decision, those supported by strong evidence, such as proof of delivery, were won about 1.5 times as often.
Avia Chen, co-founder, chief product officer and chief marketing officer of Chargeflow, noted that individual merchants see only their own chargebacks, while the company’s view spans more than 20.000 merchants. With this in mind, Data Lab will publish what that cross-merchant data shows. The company has framed Prevent 2.0 as protection that comes switched on by default, ahead of Black Friday 2026.
Pricing and availability
Prevent 2.0 is live for Shopify merchants. Merchants new to Prevent receive their first 1,000 scanned transactions free until 31 December 2026. After that, the service costs USD 0.10 per scanned transaction, applied to each order or subscription renewal it scans. Merchants new to Chargeflow can install the app from the Shopify App Store and activate Prevent, while existing Chargeflow merchants can enable it from their account.
