Anyone who’s spent any time online knows that spam and bots are just part of the experience. It’s like bedbugs or lice – annoying af and hard to get rid of! I’ve spent the last several months trying to stop fraudulent purchases from hitting my store and I think I’ve finally got it fixed – I guess we’ll know shortly.
What it looks like
Since I went live I’ve been getting $10.91 orders with local pickup selected even though the address given was in some other part of the country. There were a few different problems with payment – either failed, pending, or draft completed. Eventually they would drop off – though one looked funded (here and on PayPal) even though the notes farther down in the order details it clearly said it had failed.
Why it matters
Other than the fact that it’s super annoying, it also holds the item until the process moves to certainty of a failed payment and, especially with a pending draft, that can be a couple of days.
How I fixed it
Not gonna lie – I struggled through searches and settings configurations for awhile, with no success, then I turned to ChatGPT. I know people are concerned about AI replacing workers – I share that concern (though I’d be great with it if there were protections for workers and communal ownership that included shared benefits from its work). In this case, I can’t afford to pay an assistant so it’s the difference between being able to solve the problem and move forward (I’d love to grow my business to where I can afford to hire at least an assistant! Can’t happen if my site is bogged down with spam and bots seeking to do fraud — not to mention the horrible awareness that some might succeed because of how they work!)
What I did
- Set up google reCaptcha & set it to be required before payment
- Added WP Armour for a second layer of protection
What now?
I wait a bit.
Then I check my orders page and, hopefully, I don’t see any fraud attempts!
If this isn’t enough, I will figure out a next step and come back to share it. If I’m having this issue, I know others are too. If this can help you, I’m happy to share the info.
If you have this issue and these steps help, please leave a comment and let me know. If you have a different solution, please share it!