How it works

Follow these 5 simple steps to start automatically protecting your store from fraudulent orders

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Order Created
App connector: Shopify • Time to complete: 0 minutes (Auto-configured)
Why this matters: This trigger captures every new order as it happens, giving you the fastest possible response time to identify and handle potentially fraudulent purchases before they can impact your business.

This step automatically monitors your Shopify store and triggers the workflow whenever a customer completes a purchase. The trigger captures all order details including customer information, payment method, shipping address, and order contents. No configuration is needed - it runs continuously in the background and passes the complete order data to the next step for fraud analysis.

Get List of Order's Risks
App connector: Shopify • Time to complete: 0 minutes (Auto-configured)
Why this matters: This step retrieves Shopify's built-in fraud analysis results, which use advanced algorithms to evaluate factors like payment patterns, shipping addresses, and customer behavior to determine if an order should be canceled.

This step automatically queries Shopify's fraud detection system to get all risk assessments associated with the new order. Shopify analyzes dozens of fraud indicators and returns a recommendation (like "CANCEL", "INVESTIGATE", or "ACCEPT") along with detailed risk scores. The step processes this data and makes it available for the filter condition in the next step, requiring no user configuration.

Filter
App connector: Filter • Time to complete: 0 minutes (Auto-configured)
Why this matters: This filter ensures only genuinely high-risk orders get automatically canceled, preventing false positives that could unnecessarily reject legitimate customers and hurt your sales.

This step evaluates the fraud recommendation from Shopify's risk analysis and only allows the workflow to continue if the recommendation equals "CANCEL". Orders marked as "INVESTIGATE" or "ACCEPT" will stop here and proceed through your normal fulfillment process. The filter acts as a safety gate, ensuring only orders with the highest fraud confidence levels trigger automatic cancellation and customer notification.

Cancel Order
App connector: Shopify • Time to complete: 0 minutes (Auto-configured)
Why this matters: This step immediately cancels the high-risk order and restocks inventory while automatically sending a professional cancellation email to the customer, preventing fraud losses while maintaining good customer service.

This step cancels the flagged order in Shopify with the reason set to "fraud" and enables email notification to the customer. The cancellation immediately stops payment processing, restocks all items back to available inventory, and sends an automated email explaining the cancellation. The system processes the cancellation and makes the updated order status available for the final notification step.

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Send Email
App connector: Email • Time to complete: 2 minutes
Why this matters: This notification keeps you informed about every automatic cancellation so you can monitor fraud patterns, verify the system is working correctly, and manually review edge cases if needed.

This step sends you an email notification whenever an order gets automatically canceled for fraud risk. The email includes the order number, links directly to the canceled order in your Shopify admin for easy review, and confirms that inventory was restocked and the customer was notified. The notification goes to your shop's primary email address and provides all the context you need to track fraud prevention activity.

Make it your own

Customize this workflow even further:

Add order tags for tracking
Tag canceled orders with custom labels like "auto-canceled-fraud" to track fraud patterns and analyze which customer behaviors trigger cancellations most frequently.
Create customer segments for analysis
Build customer groups based on fraud risk factors to identify patterns in shipping addresses, payment methods, or purchase behaviors that correlate with fraudulent activity.
Set up Slack notifications for immediate alerts
Connect to Slack to instantly notify your team when high-risk orders get canceled, allowing for quick manual review of edge cases or unusual fraud patterns.
Store fraud data in tables for reporting
Save details about canceled orders, risk scores, and cancellation reasons in your own database to build comprehensive fraud analytics and improve your prevention strategies over time.

Frequently asked questions

What types of orders will this workflow automatically cancel?
Only orders where Shopify's fraud analysis returns a "CANCEL" recommendation get automatically processed. This typically includes orders with stolen payment methods, suspicious shipping patterns, or other high-confidence fraud indicators that Shopify's algorithms detect.
Can I customize which fraud risk levels trigger automatic cancellation?
Yes, you can modify the Filter step to respond to different risk recommendations. For example, you could change it to also auto-cancel orders marked as "INVESTIGATE" if you prefer a more aggressive fraud prevention approach, though this may increase false positives.
What happens to inventory and payments when an order gets canceled?
The Cancel Order step automatically restocks all items back to available inventory and stops payment processing. If payment was already captured, Shopify will initiate a refund according to your payment gateway's process, typically within 3-5 business days.
What is a template?
MESA templates are fully pre-configured workflows built and vetted by Shopify Experts. Unlike competitor templates that provide basic scaffolds requiring extensive setup, MESA templates come with all data variables properly mapped, required fields configured, and steps ready to activate. You can turn them on immediately and start automating.
Can I customize a template?
Absolutely! While our templates work out-of-the-box, every step can be personalized to match your exact business requirements. Add conditional logic, integrate additional apps, or build more sophisticated workflows. MESA's templates provide a solid foundation that you can expand as needed.
Are templates free?
Yes! Our entire library of expert-built, production-ready templates is free to use. Unlike platforms that charge for premium templates or provide only basic scaffolds, MESA gives you access to hundreds of fully-configured, vetted workflows at no additional cost.

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