Auto‑challenge fraudulent Visa disputes with CE 3.0

Use Visa Compelling Evidence 3.0 (CE 3.0) with Airwallex's AI Dispute Automation to automatically challenge certain Visa fraud disputes with a high likelihood of success. When eligibility criteria are met, Airwallex builds and submits the evidence package on your behalf — no manual action is required.

What is CE 3.0?

CE 3.0 is a Visa rule set for card-not-present fraud disputes under reason code 10.4 – Other Fraud: Card-Absent Environment. It lets you prove that a disputed transaction is likely legitimate by demonstrating a strong historical purchasing relationship between the cardholder and your business.

When Visa's criteria are met:

• The dispute is treated as first-party misuse (friendly fraud) rather than third-party fraud.
• Liability shifts back to the card issuer.
• You keep or recover the disputed funds.
• The case is treated more favorably in Visa's fraud and monitoring metrics, for example, Visa Account Management Program (VAMP).

Before you begin

• Access to the Airwallex web app.
• An account with dispute management permissions.
• AI Dispute Automation activated on your account. See Automate dispute management with AI.

Understand when CE 3.0 auto-challenge applies

Airwallex applies CE 3.0 auto-challenge only when all of the following conditions are met:

If any condition is not met, Airwallex does not auto-challenge with CE 3.0. You can still challenge those disputes manually using the standard dispute tools.

Understand CE 3.0 eligibility criteria

Prior transaction requirements

For each disputed transaction (D), Airwallex searches for at least two prior transactions (P1 and P2) that meet all of the following:

Three-way data match

In addition to Visa's baseline rules, Airwallex applies a strict three-way matching standard to maximize the win rate. The system must find two data elements whose values are identical across all three transactions (D, P1, and P2):

• Evidence 1 – primary element (must be one of):

  • Customer purchase IP address.
  • Customer device ID or device fingerprint.

• Evidence 2 – secondary element (any of):

  • Customer purchase IP address.
  • Customer device ID or device fingerprint.
  • User ID or customer account ID.
  • Delivery or shipping address.

If the same value for both a primary and secondary element is found across D, P1, and P2, Airwallex flags the dispute as CE 3.0-eligible and proceeds with auto-challenge. This stricter standard achieves significantly higher win rates than looser interpretations of CE 3.0.

View auto-challenged disputes

When a Visa 10.4 chargeback is raised on a card-not-present transaction and meets the CE 3.0 criteria, Airwallex automatically builds and submits the evidence package. The dispute defense report includes:

• Dispute details: type, timestamps, amount, merchant name, order ID, and product type.
• Transaction details: Acquirer Reference Number (ARN), masked card number, amount, timestamp, 3D Secure status, and CVV or AVS results where available.
• Customer details: customer ID, email, IP address, and billing address.
• Reason for challenge: for example, authenticated, fulfilled, non-refundable, or satisfying CE 3.0 criteria.
• Supporting evidence: order snapshots, fulfillment and usage records, refund policy references, and relevant customer communications.
• CE 3.0 summary: D, P1, and P2 with ARNs and dates, timeframe confirmation, settlement status, and the matched primary and secondary data elements with their shared values.

To view an auto-challenged dispute, complete these steps:

1. In the Airwallex web app, navigate to Disputes.
2. Locate disputes with the status Chargeback – Challenged. Auto-challenged disputes appear alongside other challenged disputes in your dispute list.
3. Open a dispute to view the AI Dispute Automation panel, which shows:
   • AI insights and summary.
   • Win probability prediction.
   • Evidence completion rate.
4. Scroll to the Visa compelling evidence (CE 3.0) section to see a summary of the linked historical transactions and the matching data elements used.

If the three-way match cannot be established, the dispute remains in Requires response status for manual handling.

Maximize CE 3.0 coverage

To increase how often Airwallex can auto-challenge with CE 3.0, take the following steps.

Send rich customer data on every Visa online transaction

Include the following data fields on every Visa card-not-present transaction where possible:

• Customer purchase IP address.
• Device ID or device fingerprint.
• Customer account or login ID.
• Shipping or delivery address.
• Customer email address.

Encourage logged-in account use

Use consistent customer IDs and encourage customers to purchase while logged in so that Airwallex can reliably link their transaction history across disputes and prior orders.

Maintain order, fulfillment, and policy records

Keep order snapshots, fulfillment timestamps, and usage or activity logs for digital products. Ensure your refund policy and terms and conditions are clearly disclosed and accepted at checkout.

Keep AI Dispute Automation enabled

Confirm that AI Dispute Automation is enabled on your account so CE 3.0 auto-challenge can run end-to-end. If you require more control — for example, opting out of auto-challenge for particular segments — contact your Airwallex representative or Support.

Understand dispute outcomes and fund movement

CE 3.0 changes how Airwallex defends Visa fraud disputes; it does not change the underlying funds movement rules.

When a dispute enters the chargeback stage:

• Visa debits Airwallex for the disputed amount and scheme dispute fees.
• Airwallex deducts the disputed amount and chargeback fee from your next settlement.
• The disputed amount is held while the dispute status is Challenged, including CE 3.0 cases.

When the dispute is resolved:

• Won: The disputed amount is credited back to your Airwallex Wallet in the next settlement. Dispute fees are generally not refunded.
• Lost: The cardholder keeps the refund and dispute-related fees already charged are not reversed.

For a full breakdown of when your Wallet is debited or credited at each stage and status, see Manage disputes.

CE 3.0 vs related orders matching criteria

In the Disputes view, you may also see a Matching criteria percentage in the Related orders table. This is separate from CE 3.0 logic:

A related order can have a high or low matching criteria percentage and still be eligible or ineligible for CE 3.0, because CE 3.0 uses a stricter, scheme-defined subset of conditions.

Frequently asked questions

Does CE 3.0 auto-challenge apply to all fraud disputes?

No. It applies only to Visa card-not-present disputes with reason code 10.4 – Other Fraud: Card-Absent Environment. Other Visa reason codes and other card schemes use different rules and are not covered by this feature.

Will every Visa 10.4 dispute be auto-challenged?

No. Auto-challenge only happens when there are at least two prior, settled, undisputed Visa transactions on the same card and merchant (120–365 days before the disputed transaction), and two customer data elements — including IP or device ID — match across all three transactions. If either condition fails, the dispute is queued for manual handling.

Can I add my own evidence to an auto-challenged CE 3.0 dispute?

Once Airwallex submits a CE 3.0 defense for a given dispute cycle, that submission is fixed for Visa review. You can view a summary of the evidence used in the dispute details panel, but you cannot edit that submission in the web app. To request that future templates include additional evidence types, contact your Airwallex representative.

Next steps

• Automate dispute management with AI
• Fraud prevention
• Manage disputes