Early Fraud Warnings

Early Fraud Warnings (EFWs) are real-time alerts issued by card networks when a cardholder reports potential fraud on a transaction. They arrive before a formal dispute (chargeback) is filed, giving you a window to proactively refund a suspicious charge and potentially avoid a chargeback entirely.

Overview
How EFWs Differ from Disputes
The EarlyFraudWarning Object
Fraud Type Reference
Webhook Events
Recommended Response Strategy
End-to-End Testing Guide

Overview

Card issuer flags transaction as potentially fraudulent
       │
       ▼
Card network fires radar.early_fraud_warning.created
       │
       ▼
Flex receives event → resolves charge → creates EFW record
       │
       ▼
Partner receives webhook event: radar.early_fraud_warning.created
       │
       ├─── actionable: true  → Consider proactive refund to prevent chargeback
       └─── actionable: false → Warning is informational only (already refunded or disputed)

There is no REST API to list or retrieve EFWs. All EFW data is delivered exclusively via webhook events. Subscribe to radar.early_fraud_warning.created and radar.early_fraud_warning.updated in your webhook configuration.

Key facts

EFWs are read-only — Flex does not expose an API to query or acknowledge them.
An EFW does not mean a dispute has been filed. It is a signal that the cardholder may have flagged the transaction.
A single charge may receive multiple EFWs (one created, then updated as circumstances change).
actionable: true means the charge has not yet been refunded or disputed — act now.
actionable: false means the charge has already been fully refunded or a dispute has been filed. No action needed.

How EFWs Differ from Disputes

	Early Fraud Warning	Dispute (Chargeback)
Trigger	Card issuer files fraud report with card network	Cardholder formally disputes with their bank
Impact on funds	No immediate fund withdrawal	Funds withdrawn immediately
Fee	No fee	Dispute fee charged
Flex API	Webhook only	Full REST API
Recommended action	Consider proactive refund	Submit evidence or accept loss
Time pressure	Respond before a formal dispute is filed	Evidence deadline (`due_by`) typically 7–21 days

The EarlyFraudWarning Object

This is the object delivered inside every radar.early_fraud_warning.* webhook event.

{
  "early_fraud_warning_id": "fefw_01jx3q8kt1b9a7n2c4d5e6f7g8",
  "charge_id": "fch_01jx3q6ab1c7d2e3f4g5h6j7k8",
  "payment_intent_id": "fpi_01jx3q7ab1c8d2e3f4g5h6j7k8",
  "actionable": true,
  "fraud_type": "card_never_received",
  "client_reference_id": "order_12345",
  "test_mode": false,
  "created_at": "2026-02-15T10:20:00Z"
}

Field Reference

Field	Type	Description
`early_fraud_warning_id`	string	Flex EFW ID (`fefw_` prefix).
`charge_id`	string \| null	Flex charge ID (`fch_`) for the flagged transaction.
`payment_intent_id`	string \| null	Flex payment intent ID (`fpi_`) linked to the charge.
`actionable`	boolean	`true` if the charge is still refundable and no dispute has been filed. `false` once refunded or disputed.
`fraud_type`	string	Fraud category from the card issuer. See Fraud Type Reference.
`client_reference_id`	string \| null	The `client_reference_id` you passed when creating the checkout session, if any. Useful for correlating EFWs to your internal order IDs.
`test_mode`	boolean	`true` for test-mode transactions.
`created_at`	string	ISO 8601 timestamp when Flex received the EFW.

Fraud Type Reference

Value	Description
`card_never_received`	Physical card was never received by the cardholder (e.g. intercepted in mail).
`fraudulent_card_application`	Card was obtained through a fraudulent application.
`made_with_counterfeit_card`	Physical counterfeit card was used.
`made_with_lost_card`	Lost card was used without authorisation.
`made_with_stolen_card`	Stolen card was used without authorisation.
`unauthorized_use_of_card`	Card was used without the cardholder’s authorisation (general).
`misc`	Other / unclassified fraud type.

unauthorized_use_of_card and card_never_received are the most common in ecommerce.

Webhook Events

`radar.early_fraud_warning.created`

Fired when Flex receives a new early fraud warning for one of your charges.

{
  "event_id": "fevt_01jx3q8kt1b9a7n2c4d5e6f7g8",
  "event_type": "radar.early_fraud_warning.created",
  "event_dt": 1770000000,
  "object": {
    "early_fraud_warning_id": "fefw_01jx3q8kt1b9a7n2c4d5e6f7g8",
    "charge_id": "fch_01jx3q6ab1c7d2e3f4g5h6j7k8",
    "payment_intent_id": "fpi_01jx3q7ab1c8d2e3f4g5h6j7k8",
    "actionable": true,
    "fraud_type": "card_never_received",
    "client_reference_id": "order_12345",
    "test_mode": false,
    "created_at": "2026-02-15T10:20:00Z"
  }
}

`radar.early_fraud_warning.updated`

Fired when an existing EFW changes — most commonly when actionable transitions from true to false (because the charge was refunded or a formal dispute was filed).

{
  "event_id": "fevt_01jx3q9ab1c2d3e4f5g6h7j8k9",
  "event_type": "radar.early_fraud_warning.updated",
  "event_dt": 1770003600,
  "object": {
    "early_fraud_warning_id": "fefw_01jx3q8kt1b9a7n2c4d5e6f7g8",
    "charge_id": "fch_01jx3q6ab1c7d2e3f4g5h6j7k8",
    "payment_intent_id": "fpi_01jx3q7ab1c8d2e3f4g5h6j7k8",
    "actionable": false,
    "fraud_type": "card_never_received",
    "client_reference_id": "order_12345",
    "test_mode": false,
    "created_at": "2026-02-15T10:20:00Z"
  }
}

Webhook signature verification

All Flex webhooks include a flex-signature header. Verify it using your webhook signing secret from the Flex dashboard. See the Webhooks documentation for signature verification details.

Idempotency

EFWs are upserted on early_fraud_warning_id — receiving the same event twice will not create duplicate records. Your webhook handler should be idempotent: processing the same event_id twice should have no side-effects.

Recommended Response Strategy

When you receive radar.early_fraud_warning.created with actionable: true:

1. Assess the risk

Check the fraud_type and correlate the charge_id or client_reference_id to the order in your system.

Is this order already shipped? Shipped orders are harder to recover.
Is the fraud_type high-risk (card_never_received, made_with_stolen_card)? These have a higher probability of becoming a formal chargeback.

2. Decide: refund or wait

Scenario	Recommendation
Order not yet shipped	Cancel and refund immediately.
Order shipped, high-value, high-risk fraud type	Proactive refund may still be cheaper than losing a dispute + fee.
Order shipped, low-value	Weigh refund cost vs dispute fee (~$15) + chargeback rate impact.
`actionable: false`	No action needed — already resolved.

3. Issue a refund (if decided)

Use the Flex Refunds API to issue a full or partial refund for the charge_id in the EFW. Once refunded, the EFW will be updated to actionable: false and you will receive a radar.early_fraud_warning.updated event.

4. Track your chargeback rate

A high chargeback rate (typically >1%) can result in penalties from card networks. EFWs are an early signal to detect patterns — monitor fraud_type across EFWs to identify systemic fraud patterns in your customer base.

End-to-End Testing Guide

Note: EFW events cannot be triggered via test card payments alone — card networks do not issue EFWs in response to standard test transactions. Use the synthetic webhook method below to simulate the full flow end-to-end against your local Flex server.

Prerequisites

Flex API key and webhook signing secret (from your Flex dashboard)
Your webhook endpoint URL (must be reachable — use ngrok for local development)
Python 3 or any HMAC-SHA256 capable language

Step 1 — Register a webhook endpoint

In your Flex dashboard, register your endpoint URL and subscribe to:

radar.early_fraud_warning.created
radar.early_fraud_warning.updated

Step 2 — Create a charge

Create a checkout session and complete a payment. Note the charge_id (fch_...) and payment_intent_id (fpi_...) from the checkout session response. Optionally include a client_reference_id in your checkout session request to verify it is propagated to EFW events:

POST /v1/checkout/sessions
Authorization: Bearer fsk_...
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "checkout_session": {
    "line_items": [{ "price": "fprice_...", "quantity": 1 }],
    "client_reference_id": "order_12345",
    "mode": "payment",
    "success_url": "https://example.com/success",
    "cancel_url": "https://example.com/cancel"
  }
}

Step 3 — Send a synthetic EFW event

Use the script below to generate a correctly signed event and POST it to your local Flex server. Flex will process it and forward the resulting radar.early_fraud_warning.created event to your registered webhook endpoint.

import hmac
import hashlib
import json
import time
import urllib.request

# Your webhook signing secret (from your .env or Flex dashboard)
WEBHOOK_SECRET = "whsec_your_signing_secret_here"
FLEX_WEBHOOK_URL = "http://localhost:8000/v1/webhooks/stripe"

CHARGE_ID = "ch_..."   # The underlying charge ID — see note below
PI_ID = "pi_..."       # The underlying payment intent ID — see note below

timestamp = int(time.time())

payload = {
    "id": "evt_synthetic_efw_001",
    "object": "event",
    "api_version": "2023-10-16",
    "created": timestamp,
    "livemode": False,
    "pending_webhooks": 1,
    "request": {"id": None, "idempotency_key": None},
    "type": "radar.early_fraud_warning.created",
    "data": {
        "object": {
            "id": "efw_synthetic_001",
            "object": "radar.early_fraud_warning",
            "actionable": True,
            "charge": CHARGE_ID,
            "created": timestamp,
            "fraud_type": "card_never_received",
            "livemode": False,
            "payment_intent": PI_ID
        }
    }
}

body = json.dumps(payload, separators=(',', ':'))
signed_payload = f"{timestamp}.{body}"
mac = hmac.new(
    WEBHOOK_SECRET.encode('utf-8'),
    signed_payload.encode('utf-8'),
    hashlib.sha256
)
sig_header = f"t={timestamp},v1={mac.hexdigest()}"

req = urllib.request.Request(
    FLEX_WEBHOOK_URL,
    data=body.encode('utf-8'),
    headers={
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        'Stripe-Signature': sig_header,  # required header name for webhook signature
    },
    method='POST'
)

with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as resp:
    print(f"Status: {resp.status}")  # expect 200

Where to find the charge and payment intent IDs: After completing a payment in the Flex checkout, look at the checkout_session response — the payment_intent field contains the payment intent ID (pi_...). The corresponding charge ID (ch_...) can be retrieved by fetching the payment intent from the Flex API.

Step 4 — Verify the event arrives at your endpoint

Your webhook handler should receive:

{
  "event_id": "fevt_...",
  "event_type": "radar.early_fraud_warning.created",
  "event_dt": 1770000000,
  "object": {
    "early_fraud_warning_id": "fefw_...",
    "charge_id": "fch_...",
    "payment_intent_id": "fpi_...",
    "actionable": true,
    "fraud_type": "card_never_received",
    "client_reference_id": "order_12345",
    "test_mode": false,
    "created_at": "2026-02-15T10:20:00Z"
  }
}

Verify:

early_fraud_warning_id has fefw_ prefix (Flex ID)
charge_id and payment_intent_id are Flex IDs (fch_, fpi_)
client_reference_id matches what you set on the checkout session (if applicable)
actionable: true

Step 5 — Test the updated event

Re-send with actionable: false and type: "radar.early_fraud_warning.updated", keeping the same id in data.object:

payload["type"] = "radar.early_fraud_warning.updated"
payload["data"]["object"]["actionable"] = False

Verify:

Your endpoint receives radar.early_fraud_warning.updated
The same early_fraud_warning_id is in the event (upserted, not duplicated)
actionable is now false

Step 6 — Test idempotency

Resend the same radar.early_fraud_warning.created event (same id in data.object — e.g. efw_synthetic_001 — with a different event timestamp). Verify your handler processes it without creating a duplicate record.

Step 7 — Verify `client_reference_id` propagation

If you created the checkout session with a client_reference_id:

Confirm it appears in the object of the EFW event
This lets you correlate the EFW directly to your internal order without any additional lookups

Checklist

Scenario	Expected outcome
`created` event received and parsed	`fefw_` ID in `object`, all fields populated
`client_reference_id` set on checkout session	Appears in EFW event `object.client_reference_id`
`updated` event changes `actionable: false`	Same `fefw_` ID, `actionable` updated
Duplicate `created` event (same EFW ID)	No duplicate — idempotent upsert
Missing signature header	`400 Bad Request` from Flex
Wrong signing secret	`400 Bad Request` from Flex
EFW referencing a charge not in Flex	Event accepted (200), EFW not persisted, error logged

Overview

Account & Payouts

Integration

Product and Prices

Subscriptions

Refunds

Disputes

Webhooks

Dashboard

Table of Contents

Overview

Key facts

How EFWs Differ from Disputes

The EarlyFraudWarning Object

Field Reference

Fraud Type Reference

Webhook Events

`radar.early_fraud_warning.created`

`radar.early_fraud_warning.updated`

Webhook signature verification

Idempotency

Recommended Response Strategy

1. Assess the risk

2. Decide: refund or wait

3. Issue a refund (if decided)

4. Track your chargeback rate

End-to-End Testing Guide

Prerequisites

Step 1 — Register a webhook endpoint

Step 2 — Create a charge

Step 3 — Send a synthetic EFW event

Step 4 — Verify the event arrives at your endpoint

Step 5 — Test the updated event

Step 6 — Test idempotency

Step 7 — Verify `client_reference_id` propagation

Checklist

​Table of Contents

​Overview

​Key facts

​How EFWs Differ from Disputes

​The EarlyFraudWarning Object

​Field Reference

​Fraud Type Reference

​Webhook Events

​radar.early_fraud_warning.created

​radar.early_fraud_warning.updated

​Webhook signature verification

​Idempotency

​Recommended Response Strategy

​1. Assess the risk

​2. Decide: refund or wait

​3. Issue a refund (if decided)

​4. Track your chargeback rate

​End-to-End Testing Guide

​Prerequisites

​Step 1 — Register a webhook endpoint

​Step 2 — Create a charge

​Step 3 — Send a synthetic EFW event

​Step 4 — Verify the event arrives at your endpoint

​Step 5 — Test the updated event

​Step 6 — Test idempotency

​Step 7 — Verify client_reference_id propagation

​Checklist

Table of Contents

Overview

Key facts

How EFWs Differ from Disputes

The EarlyFraudWarning Object

Field Reference

Fraud Type Reference

Webhook Events

`radar.early_fraud_warning.created`

`radar.early_fraud_warning.updated`

Webhook signature verification

Idempotency

Recommended Response Strategy

1. Assess the risk

2. Decide: refund or wait

3. Issue a refund (if decided)

4. Track your chargeback rate

End-to-End Testing Guide

Prerequisites

Step 1 — Register a webhook endpoint

Step 2 — Create a charge

Step 3 — Send a synthetic EFW event

Step 4 — Verify the event arrives at your endpoint

Step 5 — Test the updated event

Step 6 — Test idempotency

Step 7 — Verify `client_reference_id` propagation

Checklist