Why is Apple refunding (6 IAP consumables) to customer even though they have exhaused their purchase?

"Jaxl Phone" a calling application. Users buy recharges to make cellular calls from the application. In this particular case, user has already utilised their recharge by making cellular calls from within the application. They have made about 4-hours of cellular calls from the app.

Now, suddenly, customer started asking for REFUND from Apple. They never reached out to us. In fact, they also asked for REFUNDs for older IAP's and to our surprise, Apple has refunded all 6-IAP that the user has asked refund for.

  • We have written twice to Apple Developer Support about it
  • We have also hit consumption request API and used DECLINE as refund preference. But still Apple has gone ahead and issued a refund.

How can we stop this scam and bleeding?

Our app's terms and conditions, which are clearly stated at jaxl.com/privacy/#terms-and-condition, explicitly specify:

"You may discontinue service at any time by deleting the Application but you will not be entitled to any refund for any purchases you have made in the Application."

The user in question has never reached out to us regarding any issues or problems with the application. They voluntarily made several purchases within the app and continued to use the service extensively, making more calls after each purchase. Once their credits were exhausted, they repeated the purchase process and continued making calls.

This behavior suggests a clear pattern of a refund scam. We have comprehensive server-side logs available to prove that the user fully consumed the purchased items and continued to make further purchases without any complaints.

Given these circumstances, we request Apple to:

  • Reverse the unwarranted refunds.
  • Charge back the fraudulent user.
  • Clarify who bears the loss in such cases of fraud—Apple or the developer. Our app has fully provided all the services the user was entitled to.

The financial impact of these refunds is significant, and we rely on the fair enforcement of our terms to maintain the integrity of our app's economy. We urge you to review the attached evidence and address this issue promptly.

UPDATE: Further refund requests received:

  1. Today again this user has requested another IAP consumable refund
  2. This user is using our app for ~4-months now
  3. And now they are requesting refund for their past purchases

Which Apple is approving inspite of us sending out consumption request (received 202 from Apple API).

This is their 7th IAP consumable refund request in past "3-days". How can Apple allow this to happen.

I fear Apple will again just approve REFUND after 12-hours, with us unable to do a zilch about this fraud.

HOW CAN WE GET THIS MATTER ESCALATED ON PRIORITY?????

UPDATE: Further refund requests received:

Today again this user has requested another IAP consumable refund This user is using our app for ~4-months now And now they are requesting refund for their past purchases Which Apple is approving inspite of us sending out consumption request (received 202 from Apple API).

This is their 7th IAP consumable refund request in past "3-days". How can Apple allow this to happen.

HOW CAN WE GET THIS MATTER ESCALATED ON PRIORITY?????

How can we stop this scam and bleeding?

You can't. You need to ensure that you make enough profit from your honest customers to cover the expense of the scammers.

My only other advice is to try to target demographics who are more likely to be honest, and/or less likely to know how to run a refund scam, in your advertising / promotions / etc.

I haven’t implemented this, but I think you can detect if a user has refunded IAP. You can check for refund abuse and should be able to prevent them from purchasing another IAP. I don’t know the rules for implementing such a function and haven’t tried this myself. I just remember checking for it on a subscription app.

whats the point of asking developers to hit consumption request API

It is one input to their algorithm. It seems that presently they prefer to believe the user rather than you. That may change. Or not.

this is a US based customer creating fraud/scam.

When you’ve had maybe 100 such scammers, you should be able to see a pattern.

Why is Apple refunding (6 IAP consumables) to customer even though they have exhaused their purchase?
 
 
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