thread Re: Suspicious $1 transaction in Payments Troubleshooting

Suspicious $1 transaction

AugustWind71 — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 19:55:59 GMT

Yesterday I received a $1 transaction. We do not have a service that we sell for $1. The buyer is unknown to me, and I do not understand how they sent $1 to me via Square. I tried calling the phone number given by the customer and it doesn't work. What's the best way to protect ourselves against this in the future, and what is the best action here? I want to refund this, but would this open us up to more fraud?

Re: Suspicious $1 transaction

VanKalkerFarms — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 15:15:37 GMT

does the transaction show up in your transaction history? https://squareup.com/dashboard/sales/transactions

if it is just an email it is spam, I got dozens of fake square transactions and refunds a week.

Re: Suspicious $1 transaction

AugustWind71 — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 15:17:18 GMT

Yes, it does show up on the transactions list.

Re: Suspicious $1 transaction

VanKalkerFarms — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 15:22:47 GMT

Ok, then what info does it show when you click on the transaction?

this is what I see on a transaction when I click on it and it brings up the details on the right.

Collected at: Van Kalker Farms

Device: West cash 2

Source: Point of Sale

Sale attributed to: Untracked team member

that should help you see what it is.

Do you offer items for sale online?

Re: Suspicious $1 transaction

AugustWind71 — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 15:26:45 GMT

We offer writing services, rather than tangible product. This is what shows up:

Collected at: Write A Book Foundation

Order Source: Checkout Link

Sale attributed to: Untracked team member

Paid by: Bruno Jessica

I had no idea we had an online check out for our foundation's website.

Re: Suspicious $1 transaction

VanKalkerFarms — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 15:35:45 GMT

That's interesting. That means there is a link that was created, do you see any here? https://squareup.com/dashboard/ecom/online-checkout/checkout-links

that at least implies there was a link created that either is for $1 or is for open dollar donation amount and the customer put in $1

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6692-get-started-with-square-checkout-links

Re: Suspicious $1 transaction

AugustWind71 — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 16:52:57 GMT

You are right! A team member created a link for donations. Thank you for saving our sanity, Bob!

Re: Suspicious $1 transaction

PCFLO — Fri, 24 May 2024 19:40:34 GMT

I have a Square for donations for the local foodbank for which I am the treasurer. Over the past month we have received two $1 donations from unknown individuals via the donation button at our website. The customer for the first one has now disputed the charge. What is going on here? Is this some kind of fraud? How can I protect our organization?

Re: Suspicious $1 transaction

VanKalkerFarms — Fri, 24 May 2024 21:35:03 GMT

first, who would take the time to dispute a $1 transaction? TO me that sounds like someone stole a credit card number and ran a test to see if it worked and you just happened to be the one they chose to test on.

I can't really think of a way to stop someone from using a credit card to make a donation that wouldn't stop all the people you want from making a donation.

Re: Suspicious $1 transaction

Sineaid — Mon, 27 May 2024 10:28:23 GMT

Hi @PCFLO!

Welcome to the community, and sorry to hear about the concerns with your recent donations.

As @VanKalkerFarms mentioned, it’s not possible to mitigate against all risks of fraud or chargebacks when accepting payments or donations online. However, there are some best practices your organization can follow, and tools such as Risk Manager that can help protect online sales.

Where a chargeback does occur, please be assured that our disputes team will always do all they can to advocate on your behalf. That being said, in the case of donations, issuing a refund would likely be the easiest solution.