Compelling Evidence 3.0

Visa introduced CE 3.0 in April 2023 to address first-party misuse: a cardholder who made a purchase, then reported it as fraud. It applies to Visa disputes with reason code 10.4, Other Fraud: Card-Absent Environment, and can be used before a dispute is filed through supported pre-dispute tools, or in the response to a dispute.

Visa’s guide sets the main conditions: at least two prior transactions on the same payment credential that were not reported as fraud, processed within 365 days before the disputed transaction and more than 120 days before the dispute. The merchant must show matching identifiers across these transactions, including a device ID or fingerprint or an IP address, plus other elements such as the customer account or login.

Subscriptions are well placed to qualify because customers pay the same merchant repeatedly. The difficulty is that renewals run without the customer present, so they carry no IP address. Record the IP and device of each customer session against the account ID so the history exists when a dispute arrives.