Order Risk Guard for OpenCart

Overview

Code: kv_order_risk_guard · Version: 1.0.0 · Works with: OpenCart 4.x and 3.0.x

Order Risk Guard gives every new order a risk score from 0 to 100, shows every reason behind the number and acts on it. Fake and refused cash-on-delivery orders cost you shipping twice, and a chargeback customer comes back with a new e-mail address. This extension keeps a block list and an allow list, looks at the customer's history in your own store, and stops the risky orders before you ship.

Everything runs on your store. No order data leaves it, there is no account to open, no monthly fee and no lookup limit.

• Risk score with reasons: block-list entries, earlier refused or cancelled orders, many orders in a short time, billing and delivery country that differ, a disposable e-mail address, a high first order and, when your server knows the visitor's country, an IP address in another country. You set the points.
• Block list and allow list: e-mail, e-mail domain, phone, IP address or range, delivery address and customer. Each entry has its own action: refuse the checkout, require prepayment, hold for review or add points. Entries can expire. CSV import and export.
• Require prepayment: risky buyers do not see cash on delivery. They see a short, neutral note and the other methods.
• Hold for review: a risky order with an offline payment gets the status "Risk review". Stock is not reduced until you approve it. Online payments are never interrupted, only flagged.
• Cash-on-delivery confirmation: the buyer gets a link and a 6-digit code by e-mail, and by SMS if you connect your own gateway. The order waits and is cancelled automatically when nobody confirms it. You can also call the buyer and press Confirmed by phone.
• Risk panel on the order page, score in the order list, review queue with one-click approve and cancel.

Tested on

A third-party one-page checkout is not tested. Hiding payment methods and refusing the checkout need the stock payment and confirm steps. The hold on the first order status runs in the OpenCart order model, so it works behind any checkout that uses that model.

How it fits with other tools

Installation

Requirements

• OpenCart 4.1.0.4 or 3.0.5.1 (tested versions, see Tested on)
• PHP 8.1 or newer, MySQL or MariaDB
• A working store e-mail setup for the confirmation messages (System > Settings > Mail)
• An API user for the Approve and Cancel buttons: System > Settings > Option > API User. New stores have one.

OpenCart 4

1. Go to Extensions > Installer and upload kv_order_risk_guard.ocmod.zip.
2. Press the green install button in the installer list.
3. Go to Extensions > Extensions, choose Modules and install Order Risk Guard.
4. Open Order Risk in the admin menu.

OpenCart 3

1. Go to Extensions > Installer and upload kv_order_risk_guard-oc3.ocmod.zip.
2. Go to Extensions > Extensions, choose Modules and install Order Risk Guard.
3. Open Order Risk in the admin menu.

There is nothing to refresh under Modifications: the extension uses events only.

Installing adds two order statuses, "Risk review" and "Awaiting confirmation", and scoring starts at once with the default settings.

First steps

1. Open Settings and check Restricted for risky buyers (normally cash on delivery) and Offline methods.
2. Check Problem statuses: an earlier order in one of these raises the next score.
3. Add known bad customers under Block and allow lists, or import a CSV file.
4. Add your regular wholesale customers to the allow list. The Safe switch of the OpenCart customer form works too.
5. Place a test order with a disposable address, for example [email protected], and cash on delivery. You will find it in the review queue.

To try the messages without sending anything, set Messages to the test mode in Settings. They are written to system/storage/kv_order_risk_guard/mail/.

Cron (optional)

Unconfirmed orders are cancelled on time when a cron job calls the Cron URL from Settings, for example every 15 minutes. Without cron the same work runs on storefront visits, at most every 15 minutes. On OpenCart 4 the job is also listed under Extensions > Cron Jobs.

Updating

Upload the new package the same way. Your lists, scores and settings stay.

Removing

Uninstalling the module removes its tables and settings: lists, scores and open confirmations. Export your lists to CSV first. Orders stay. The two statuses stay if orders still use them, so finish the review queue before you uninstall.

Configuration

All settings are in Order Risk > Settings.

Score thresholds

A list entry works without a score: "hold for review" lifts the order to your hold threshold, "require prepayment" to the prepayment threshold and "refuse" to 100, so the number always matches what happened.

Payment methods

• Restricted for risky buyers: hidden for buyers who must prepay. Normally cash on delivery.
• Offline methods: orders with these can be held. Every other method counts as online: the money has already moved, so such an order is only flagged, with the score on the order page.

Cash-on-delivery confirmation

SMS through your own gateway

Paste the GET address of your SMS provider with the placeholders {phone} and {text}:

https://sms.example.com/send?key=YOURKEY&to={phone}&msg={text}

The extension calls it once for each code, with an 8-second limit. If the gateway fails, the e-mail still goes out and the order page shows which channels were used. Provider fees, if any, are between you and your provider.

Order statuses

• Status while on hold and Status while waiting for the buyer: the two statuses made at install. Neither may be one of your processing or complete statuses, otherwise OpenCart reduces stock while the order waits.
• Status when cancelled: used by Cancel, by the buyer's "I did not place this order" and by the time limit.
• Problem statuses: an earlier order in one of these adds points to the next order of that customer.

Signal points

0 points switches a signal off. Billing country needs the OpenCart setting that asks for a payment address; stores without it skip this signal.

IP country comes from your CDN or web server (Cloudflare CF-IPCountry, GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE, X-Country-Code) or from the GeoIP database of Bot & Country Blocker. Without one of these the signal stays off.

Customer IP: behind Cloudflare or a proxy, choose the forwarded address. Otherwise every order shows the proxy's address.

Notifications and data

• E-mail me about risky orders: a message to the store address with the score and the reasons.
• Keep scores for: e-mail, phone and IP in the risk tables are removed after this many days, 730 by default. Orders on hold are kept until they are resolved.
• Messages: the test mode writes messages to system/storage/kv_order_risk_guard/mail/ and sends nothing. Switch back before you go live.

Your privacy notice should mention that orders are checked for fraud. The check stays on your store, but it is still processing of personal data.

License

Enter the key from your Kavio Labs account in Settings > License. A 14-day trial runs without a key. Without a valid license orders are not scored and nothing changes at checkout; orders flow normally and the admin panel with all your data stays open. Links already sent to buyers keep working.

Usage

The review queue

Order Risk > Overview shows what waits for you and what waits for the buyer, the value on hold, and the last refused checkouts. The menu entry shows the number of held orders.

Each row gives the score, the reasons and the buttons:

• Approve moves the order to the status the payment method asked for. Stock, coupons and reward points are handled by OpenCart at that moment, as for any order.
• Cancel order moves it to the cancel status. Stock was never reduced.
• Confirmed by phone is for orders that wait for the buyer: call the number, then press the button.
• Send code again sends a new link and code. The old ones stop working.

Changing the status in the normal OpenCart history form works too: the hold ends by itself.

Scored orders

The Scored orders tab lists every order with a filter for level and state, and a search by e-mail, phone, IP or order number.

The order page

A panel above the order shows the score, the reasons with their points, the customer's history in your store, the IP address and the state of the confirmation.

• Score again recalculates with today's lists. It only changes the numbers, never the order.
• Score this order appears on orders placed before installation.
• Add this order's details to a list: choose the e-mail, phone, IP or address and the action.

The order list shows the score next to the status.

Lists

Block and allow lists has one entry per value.

A match on the allow list skips every check, as does the Safe switch of the customer form.

CSV

Export gives both lists. Import takes the columns list, type, value, action, points, note, expires. A plain file with one e-mail, phone or IP per line also works: these go to the block list with "add points". Lines that cannot be read are skipped and their numbers are shown.

What the buyer sees

The texts never mention risk, fraud or a score.

The confirmation page has a confirm button, a code field, a new-code link and "I did not place this order". Opening the link changes nothing, so a mail scanner cannot confirm an order. A code allows five tries; three messages per order can be requested, one minute apart.

FAQ

Does it send order data anywhere?

No. Scoring uses your own orders and lists. The only outgoing messages are the e-mail to the buyer through your own mail settings, and an SMS if you enter your own gateway.

Is this as strong as a paid fraud service?

Not for card fraud networks. A paid service sees data from many shops, including proxies and known devices. This extension knows your store: your refused orders, your lists and the patterns in each order. It is made for fake cash-on-delivery orders, repeat offenders and orders you want a person to look at. It can run next to such a service.

Does it interrupt online payments?

No. An order paid online is only flagged, because the money has already moved. Holding applies to the methods you mark as offline.

Is stock reduced while an order waits?

No. OpenCart reduces stock when an order reaches a processing or complete status, so that happens when you approve it or the buyer confirms.

Why was a good customer flagged?

The panel shows each reason with its points. Lower the points of that signal in Settings, or add the customer to the allow list.

Does it work with one-page checkout extensions?

The first-status hold works with any checkout that uses the OpenCart order model. Hiding payment methods and refusing the checkout were tested on the stock checkout only.

Do orders placed by staff in the admin get held?

No. They are scored and show the panel, but they are never held or sent to confirmation.

I use multiple stores. Lists and settings are shared by all stores of one installation. Multi-store is not part of our tests.

What happens to held orders if the license ends?

They stay as they are and you can approve or cancel them. New orders are no longer scored.

Can I translate the messages?

The texts are in system/library under kv_order_risk_guard/lang/ (OpenCart 4: extension/kv_order_risk_guard/system/library/lang/). The extension ships in English.