Topic starter
11/07/2026 8:42 pm
TL;DR: Fifty-four percent of consumers say they feel guilt yet still commit policy abuse, underscoring that behavioural friction alone does not stop abuse and that merchants need better policy design and detection, according to Riskified. The real control problem is not customer remorse but the gap between policy intent and enforcement.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Riskified: “Consumer attitudes toward policy abuse: An international pulse survey”.
Key questions
Q: Why does customer guilt not prevent policy abuse?
A: Because guilt happens after the decision to abuse, not before it.
Q: How should merchants reduce repeat policy abuse without hurting legitimate customers?
A: Use risk-based enforcement instead of blanket friction.
Q: What are the signs that policy enforcement is too weak?
A: Common signals include repeated returns, refund requests, or promotion use that stay within manual review tolerance, inconsistent decisions across similar cases, and abuse that persists even after policy changes.
Practitioner guidance
- Map policy abuse to specific control points Identify where returns, refunds, promotions, and exchanges are approved, and document which checks are actually preventing repeat abuse versus merely recording it.
- Link repeat behaviour across customer signals Correlate devices, payment instruments, shipping data, order patterns, and account histories so repeat abusers are visible even when each individual event looks legitimate.
- Create risk-based enforcement tiers Apply stronger review and friction only when behaviour crosses defined thresholds, so legitimate customers are not treated the same as repeat abusers.
Bottom line: Consumer policy abuse persists even when customers feel guilt, which means remorse is not a reliable deterrent.
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11/07/2026 9:08 pm
Consumer policy abuse is an enforcement failure before it is a behavioural one. The article shows that guilt does not reliably change outcomes, which means merchants cannot rely on soft deterrence or policy language alone. When abuse persists despite remorse, the real weakness is the gap between stated policy and enforceable control. Practitioners should treat returns and refund abuse as a governed decision problem, not a messaging problem.
A question worth separating out:
Q: Should fraud teams treat consumer policy abuse as a governance issue or a customer experience issue?
A: Both, but governance has to lead. If the organisation only protects customer experience, abuse becomes easier to scale. If it only blocks aggressively, legitimate customers suffer. The better model is governed enforcement with clear thresholds, measurable loss reduction, and controls that adapt to repeat behaviour.
👉 Read our full editorial: Consumer policy abuse is driven by guilt, not just opportunity