Fraud directly destroys margin: every fraudulent transaction is revenue that appears in the books but cannot be collected (or must be refunded). Unlike other costs, fraud is hard to predict and can spike suddenly.
Transactions flagged as fraud or reversed via chargeback, divided by total transactions for the month — it's in your payment processor dashboard (Stripe, MercadoPago, dLocal) under "Disputes" or "Chargebacks".
A 2% fraud rate can eliminate more than 30% of the margin in low-ARPU segments. Worse, payment processors can suspend your account if the chargeback rate exceeds 1% (Visa/MC threshold).
| Status | Range |
|---|---|
| Healthy | < 0.5% of transactions |
| Alert | 0.5–1.2% of transactions |
| Critical | > 1.2% (suspension risk) |
Fraud rate rises when you grow fast without updating detection rules. Review and update your risk model every 30 days during hypergrowth phases. Fraud patterns change faster than static models.
← Calculate your Fraud Rate free on Unit Economics Calculator