Adyen · Decline codes
What does Adyen refusal reason 31 “Issuer Suspected Fraud” mean?
Checked
Adyen refusal reason 31, "Issuer Suspected Fraud", means the card issuer reported the transaction as suspected fraud. Adyen's raw responses list 59 Suspected fraud, and 34 Suspect fraud for Mastercard. The shopper should confirm the purchase with their bank before trying again. Blind retries ask the same fraud model the same question.
- Type
- Soft decline (fraud signal)
- Who declined
- The shopper's card issuer
- Retry
- Not automatically. Visa lists 59 in category 2, but only a shopper-present, authenticated retry makes sense.
- Shopper action
- Confirm the purchase with the bank, then try again.
- Merchant action
- Do not retry off-session; review the order.
What PlatformDTC does
PlatformDTC does not connect to Adyen; its checkout runs on Stripe and PayPal. An issuer fraud refusal reaches it as Stripe's do_not_honor over raw Visa 59; PlatformDTC never retries that renewal, and at checkout reroutes it only with 3D Secure on the backup processor.
Why it happens
The issuer's fraud model did not like the transaction: an unusual location, amount, merchant type or pattern.
What the shopper can do
Approve the transaction in your banking app or call the bank, then pay again; or use another card.
What the store can do
Never retry silently. If the order looks genuine, ask the shopper to confirm with their bank and pay again with 3D Secure.
For developers
refusalReasonCode "31"; raw 59 (Visa category 2, max 15 in 30 days) or 34 (Mastercard). Mastercard raw 83 Fraud/Security points to the merchant advice code for follow-up.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Adyen refusal 31 the shopper committing fraud?
- Not necessarily. The bank's fraud model was suspicious; genuine shoppers often trigger it on unusual purchases.
- Should I retry Adyen refusal 31?
- Not automatically. Let the shopper confirm with their bank and pay again with 3D Secure.
Sources
Related
- 14 — The acquirer flagged the payment as possible fraud.
- 20 — Adyen's pre-authorization risk checks scored the payment 100 or more and refused it.
- 2 — The issuer refused the payment and gave no usable reason; Adyen's catch-all refusal.
- 32 — The billing address entered does not match the bank's records.
- 38 — The issuer declined the exemption request and requires 3D Secure for this payment.
- 39 — The 3D Secure result never arrived from the card scheme's directory server.
- 42 — 3D Secure failed because of a problem at the card network or issuer.
- 46 — Adyen stopped the attempt itself so you are not charged scheme penalty fees for excessive retries.