Guest: Dajana Gajic-Fisic
Today I’m continuing one of the most important conversations I think online retailers need to be having right now, and that is refund claims fraud mitigation. In this follow-up conversation, I’m joined again by Dajana Gajic-Fisic, and we get into what merchants can actually do when refund claims fraud is already creating losses, internal friction, and a lot of confusion about where to start.
What I really like about this episode is that we do not stay at the surface. We are not just talking about stopping one claim type or plugging one hole at a time. We are talking about solving refund fraud more holistically. Because when you start measuring the losses, reviewing the process, and identifying the real fraud process gaps, you usually discover something bigger. Yes, you will find ways to reduce claims fraud. But you will also find operational weaknesses, customer experience problems, and other retail loss prevention opportunities that were costing the business money even before the fraud team looked closely.
And that matters.
Because refund claims fraud mitigation is not just about denying more claims. It is about building a smarter process. One that helps good customers faster, gives teams better visibility, and makes it much harder for repeated deception to keep slipping through. Dajana shares several practical ways retailers can do that, including how to use existing reports and workflows from other teams instead of assuming every solution has to start from scratch.
That is the part I think retailers should pay attention to.
Here is what that means in practice:
- Refund claims fraud mitigation works better when retailers focus on root causes, not just one visible gap at a time
- Refund fraud measurement often reveals other costly process issues beyond fraud itself
- Cross-team fraud reporting can improve both customer experience and fraud visibility when teams stop working in isolation
- Solving refund fraud usually requires process improvement in retail, not just stricter approvals
What you’ll hear in this episode:
- Why Dajana believes merchants need to focus on solving refund fraud, not just stopping single incidents
- How refund fraud measurement can uncover hidden losses, operational inefficiencies, and weak workflows
- What fraud process gaps retailers should watch for when building a refund fraud strategy
- Why root cause analysis matters more than reactive fixes when claims fraud prevention is the goal
- How tracking wins, improving communication, and using cross-team fraud reporting can strengthen retailer fraud operations
You should listen to this episode if you:
- Work in ecommerce risk management, fraud, operations, or support and need stronger refund claims fraud mitigation
- Want a better refund fraud strategy that improves both detection and process design
- Are dealing with refund claim detection issues, rising claims losses, or unclear ownership across teams
- Need more practical ideas for retail loss prevention tied to actual workflow improvement
- Care about customer experience and fraud and want to reduce losses without creating unnecessary friction
If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and review the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps with getting the word out.
Episode notes & key takeaways
This episode is a practical follow-up for retailers that already know refund claims fraud is hurting the business and need a clearer way to respond. I walk through this with Dajana from the perspective of measurement, process gaps, cross-team visibility, and root-cause analysis, because the goal is not just to shut down claims faster. It is to understand the system well enough to reduce losses more intelligently.
Why solving refund fraud is different from just stopping it
Let’s break this down.
One of the most important ideas in this episode is that refund claims fraud mitigation should not be limited to trying to block suspicious claims one by one. That kind of reactive approach may help in the short term, but it usually does not solve much on its own. It may even create more friction, more inconsistency, and more internal confusion if the business is only reacting to whatever tactic feels loudest that week.
That usually does not end well.
What Dajana gets into so clearly is that solving refund fraud means understanding the broader system around it. What claims are being made. How they are being resolved. Where the process is vulnerable. Where data is missing. Which teams are involved. And what incentives or shortcuts might be making the process easier to exploit than anyone realized.
That is the part that matters.
Because once you understand the process deeply enough, you can start building a refund fraud strategy that reduces fraud while also improving how the business works overall.
- Refund claims fraud mitigation is more effective when it targets system weakness, not just individual claims
- Solving refund fraud requires understanding how process design influences claim outcomes
- Claims fraud prevention gets weaker when retailers only react to the most recent exploit
- Root cause analysis helps teams solve the problem beneath the visible loss pattern
Why measuring refund fraud often reveals much more than fraud
This is one of the strongest points in the whole conversation.
When retailers start doing real refund fraud measurement, they often expect to find fraudulent losses. And yes, they do. But that is usually not all they find. They also uncover broken workflows, poor handoffs, avoidable customer confusion, unnecessary costs, and process issues that were hurting the business even when no fraudster was involved.
That is a big deal.
Because it changes the conversation. Suddenly refund claims fraud mitigation is not just a fraud team initiative. It becomes a business improvement initiative too. And that makes it a lot easier to build support across the company.
I have seen this happen more than once.
A report built for one purpose starts showing something else. A team realizes a claim type is more expensive because of bad process, not just bad intent. A support workflow is creating delays that increase claims volume. An operational gap is making it easier for both fraud and legitimate frustration to show up in the same queue.
That is why refund fraud measurement matters so much:
- Refund fraud measurement can reveal losses unrelated to intentional fraud but still harmful to the business
- Process improvement in retail often starts when teams measure what is actually happening instead of guessing
- Customer experience and fraud are often tied together much more closely than teams expect
- Retailer fraud operations get stronger when fraud data is used to improve broader workflows
Why root cause analysis matters more than reactive fixes
Here’s what’s actually happening.
A lot of retailers see one exploit, build one quick fix, then move to the next exploit when the fraud shifts. That pattern is exhausting, and it keeps teams stuck in a cycle of reaction. Dajana talks about this really well, because she has seen the same mistake. Companies get so focused on closing one gap that they never stop to ask why the fraud was working there in the first place.
Right.
And if you never answer that question, the fraud just finds another path.
That is exactly why root cause analysis is such a critical part of refund claims fraud mitigation. It helps teams see whether the real issue is a weak policy, poor visibility, unclear ownership, inconsistent handling, missing documentation, or some other part of the process that created room for abuse.
Once you understand that, your fraud reduction tactics get much smarter.
- Root cause analysis helps retailers reduce repeat exploitation across multiple claim types
- Fraud process gaps often sit underneath several seemingly separate loss patterns
- Claims fraud prevention improves when businesses fix structural weaknesses instead of isolated symptoms
- A reactive refund fraud strategy may suppress one tactic while encouraging the next one
How cross-team reporting and existing processes can make a huge difference
This is where things get really practical.
One of the best parts of this episode is Dajana sharing how she used an existing process and report from another team to improve visibility and create better outcomes. That is such an important lesson because too many companies assume every fraud solution has to start from zero. It does not.
Sometimes the data is already there.
Sometimes the process is already there.
Sometimes the problem is that the fraud team is not connected to it yet.
That is why cross-team fraud reporting matters so much. Fraud, operations, support, fulfillment, and other functions may each have part of the picture. When those pieces stay separated, the business ends up working harder than it needs to. But when teams start sharing reports, trends, and feedback more intentionally, retailers can spot opportunities faster and reduce waste at the same time.
A few things worth paying attention to:
- Cross-team fraud reporting can surface process vulnerabilities the fraud team cannot see alone
- Existing reports and workflows may already contain useful refund claim detection signals
- Retailer fraud operations improve when teams reuse strong internal processes instead of rebuilding everything
- Process improvement in retail often comes from better internal connection, not just new technology
Why communication, feedback, and tracking wins matter so much
Honestly, this is one of the most overlooked parts of this work.
Refund claims fraud mitigation can be messy, slow, and sometimes hard to explain to people outside the team. That is exactly why communication and feedback matter so much. If teams are finding gaps, improving workflows, reducing losses, and making smarter decisions, they need to be talking about that clearly and consistently.
And they need to track the wins.
Because if nobody sees the progress, it gets a lot harder to keep the momentum going. Dajana makes a really strong point here about the importance of putting your name out there, sharing the work, and helping others understand what changed and why it mattered. That is not about ego. It is about making sure the business learns from what worked.
That part holds up.
- Tracking wins helps fraud teams show the value of refund claims fraud mitigation work over time
- Communication and feedback make cross-functional process change much easier to sustain
- Refund fraud tracking should highlight both loss reduction and operational improvement
- Retailers make better long-term decisions when fraud teams clearly show what progress looks like
Why better refund claims fraud mitigation improves more than one metric
The bigger takeaway from this episode is pretty straightforward. Refund claims fraud mitigation is not just about stopping suspicious claims faster. It is about understanding the business process well enough to reduce fraud, reduce waste, improve visibility, and create a better experience for legitimate customers at the same time.
That is why this conversation matters so much.
Dajana brings a really grounded view to the problem. Measure the losses. Find the gaps. Understand the root causes. Use what already exists when it helps. Communicate often. Track the wins. And do not mistake one tactical fix for a real solution.
Because the retailers that make the most progress here are usually the ones that stop treating refund fraud like a single queue problem and start treating it like a business system that needs to work better overall.
That is the part that holds up.
