Digistore24's Lucas Coro on Why Chargebacks Are Now a Board-Level Problem

First-party fraud, the polite name for customers disputing purchases they made and received, rose from 15 per cent of all reported fraud in 2023 to 36 per cent in 2024, which makes it the largest fraud category in the world, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions. A dispute button in a banking app has become easier than a refund request and the bill lands on merchants. Mastercard and Datos Insights count 261 million chargebacks in 2025 and project 359 million by 2029, worth $46.1 billion.

The disputed amount is the smallest part of that bill. Merchants spend an average of $128 to handle a single chargeback, $82 internally and $46 in third-party fees, against an average US dispute of $110. Card-not-present sales, 63 per cent of merchant volume, carry most of the risk. The tolerance for it is shrinking: Visa cut its merchant "excessive" dispute threshold from...

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