Chargers: Causes and Process

1) What is a chargeback and why is it critical in iGaming

• P&L (write-off, scheme/acquirer fees, transaction costs),
• risk profile (monitoring levels of schemes/banks),
• reputation and access to processing (thresholds for dispute shares),
• UX (fighting "friendly fraud" without killing conversion).

2) Chargeback cause classification (simplified taxonomy)

1. Fraud/No authorization of the holder

Unauthorized operation, card compromise, without passing 3DS or with controversial authentication.

2. Service/content dispute

"Did not receive a service/win," "deceiving expectations," account restrictions, violation of bonus rules.

3. Technical/Operational

Doubles, incorrect amount/currency, partial/failed refund, kapchur timeout.

4. Other/Regulatory

Transaction out of permitted Jurassic customer fields, issuer bans on 7995, etc.

3) Chargeback life cycle (high-level)

1. Inquiry/Retrieval

The issuer requests data (checks, logs). Respond with evidence packages.

2. Chargeback (primary chargeback)

Debiting of funds; the merchant has the right to represent (provide evidence).

3. Representation

Send arguments and documents; the acquirer/circuit is transmitted to the issuer.

4. Pre-Arbitration

If the parties disagree, a second round with new arguments is possible.

5. Arbitration (scheme arbitration)

Final decision of the scheme; significant fees and final closure of the case are possible.

Timing. Practically: the merchant is given small windows (usually weeks) to answer, and the total duration of the operation is months. Exact deadlines depend on the scheme/acquirer - fix them in your SLA playbook.

4) Impact of 3DS/SCA, tokens and CIT/MIT labels

Successful EMV 3DS (ECI/CAVV) often gives liability shift by fraud cases (depends on rules/zones); this is your main shield against "no authorization."

Bad flags (CIT/MIT/COF) reduce protection: repeated write-offs (MITs) must reference the initial CIT with SCAs.
Network tokens (VTS/MDES/NSPK) reduce the likelihood of PAN fraud and errors, increase AR, and reduce the risk of disputes.

5) Evidence pack by cause type

5. 1 Fraud/No Auth

3DS artifacts: ECI, CAVV/AVV, dsTransID/threeDSServerTransID.
Device/IP: fingerprint, geo, IP country match with billing/account.
Account history: logins, KYC verifications, activity (game sessions, deposits/conclusions).
Communications: letters/notifications, confirmations.
Tokenization: network token/COF.

5. 2 Service/content dispute

Proof of performance: game session logs, accruals/conclusions, timestamps.
Terms of offer/bonuses and user consent (screen/version of rules at the time of transaction).
Support communications (tickets, decisions, partial compensation).
Geo/restrictions: Evidence of the legality of player access.

5. 3 Technical/Operational

Authorization/kapchura/refand logs (idempotence, double-detector).
Payment/return log screen (dates, amounts, statuses, ARN/rrn, psp_txn_id).
Confirmation of correction (return, ticket closure).

6) Action playbooks (deciding) by case

7) Processes and roles (operating model)

Chargeback Desk (dispute analysts): cause check, package collection, communication with the acquirer, deadline control.
Payments Orchestrator: 3DS artifacts, Auth/Capture/Refund statuses, CIT/MIT bundles, journals.
Risk/Anti-fraud: scoring, behavioral analysis, lock/limit rules.
Support/CS: communication with the player, peaceful settlements (refund/partial), tickets.
Finance/Recon: reconciliation of amounts and commissions, cost accounting, case closure.

SLA-table: for each scheme/country - deadlines for Retrieval, Representation, Pre-Arb, Arb; responsible persons and checklists.

8) Metrics (KPI) and quality control

Protection efficiency

Win rate (proportion of representations won) by cause and country.
3DS protected% (how many fraud cases are closed by liability shift).
Time-to-respond p95.

Portfolio health

Chargeback rate (pcs.) And CBR% (for approved transactions) - general and by BIN/issuers/PSP.
Friendly fraud share.
Cost per CB (including commissions, labor, lost cases).

Operation management

Share of cases without a full package on time.
Cause classification errors (recode rate).
Repeated CBs of one client/device (recurrence).

9) Reducing chargebacks before they occur

3DS2 + rich data → more frictionless and less fraud.
Tokenization (network tokens) + VAU/ABU → fewer PAN/expiry errors and failures.
Clear rules (KYC, bonuses, limits, multi-account bans) and visibility for the user.
UX transparency: receipts, e-mail/SMS/fluffs, easily found support channels and quick returns in controversial situations.
Risk scoring and velocity: blocking/challenges by geo/device/behavior anomalies.
Payment idempotence: without duplicates → without tech. chargebacks.

10) Finance and Accounting

Conduct separate Ledger for disputes: communication 'payment_id ↔ case_id ↔ scheme_code'.
Accounting of fees of schemes/acquirer at each stage (chargeback, representation, arb).
Reserves for expected losses (based on historians and the current level of disputes).
Reporting: weekly/monthly summaries by cause, win rate, cost, trends by BIN/country/PSP.

11) iGaming Features (MCC 7995)

The increased risk profile of some issuers is → stricter AVS/CVV/3DS and more often soft-decline.
In a number of countries, additional restrictions/limits → communicate this to the player and log the reasons for failures.

Flexible bonus/CUS playbooks: Minimize expectation conflicts and "friendly fraud."

12) Anti-patterns

Ignore deadlines and send incomplete packets.
Rely only on offer texts without operational evidence.
Do not store 3DS artifacts and the CIT/MIT bundle.
Route everything into one PSP without taking into account AR/fraud by BIN/country.
Log PAN/CVV or excess PII in evidence (PCI/GDPR violation).

13) Implementation checklist (short)

• Unified Reason Guide and Scheme/PSP Code Mapping.
• Dossier templates of evidence by case type.
• Auto-assembly of 3DS artifacts and CIT/MIT bundles in the orchestrator.
• SLA deadline calendar + overdue alerts.
• KPI dashboards (win rate, CBR%, cost per CB) and alerts by bursts.
• Proactive UX: receipts, quick returns for obvious technical errors.
• PCI/GDPR policies: PAN-safe, PII minimization in packets.
• Team training (Chargeback Desk, Support, Risk) + playbooks.

14) Summary

1. correct classification of causes,

2. disciplined evidence packages and SLAs,

3. strong preventive measures (3DS2, tokenization, KYC/UX),

4. metrics and routing by BIN/country/PSP.

This way you reduce losses and support the conversion without blocking bona fide players.