Question 1

Can Beacon prevent 100% of fraudulent orders?

Accepted Answer

No fraud prevention tool can guarantee 100% elimination of fraud. Beacon provides an intelligent multi-layered defensive shield that blocks the vast majority of automated bot attacks, card testing, and known malicious actors while empowering merchants to safely review borderline orders without canceling legitimate customers.

Question 2

The customer says the SMS verification link does not work. What should I check?

Accepted Answer

Some mobile carriers truncate or filter SMS messages exceeding 140 characters. Ensure your custom SMS template keeps the {{link}} variable well within the 140-character threshold. Also verify that the customer’s phone number includes the correct international dialing prefix.

Question 3

Are all phone numbers marked as VOIP or Landline considered risky?

Accepted Answer

Not necessarily. While VOIP numbers carry a higher statistical correlation with fraudulent checkout attempts, legitimate buyers frequently use virtual numbers (e.g. Google Voice) or office landlines. We recommend cross-referencing with other risk signals like IP geolocation, billing name matches, and device history.

Question 4

When a customer completes verification, is the transaction guaranteed safe?

Accepted Answer

Successful SMS verification proves the buyer possesses the phone number provided at checkout. While this significantly lowers risk and deters identity theft, merchants should still exercise reasonable diligence on unusually large or expedited orders.

Question 5

What should I do if a customer updates their phone number?

Accepted Answer

You can update the customer phone number directly inside Beacon by navigating to the customer profile and clicking the edit pencil next to their phone. The system will automatically detect and pre-fill the international country code. Please remove spaces and hyphens before saving.

Question 6

How do I stop Beacon from automatically sending out SMS messages?

Accepted Answer

Go to the Settings tab in Beacon. Under “Verification Mode”, switch from “Automatic” to “Manual” and save. Beacon will continue scanning and scoring all new orders in real-time, but will not dispatch automated SMS messages unless you trigger them manually.

Question 7

Does Beacon send an SMS verification message on every order?

Accepted Answer

No. Once a buyer successfully completes verification, Beacon remembers their identity and tags them so future orders from that account proceed without repeated verification prompts.

Question 8

How do I re-send an SMS verification link to a buyer?

Accepted Answer

In the Beacon orders dashboard, select the order checkbox, click on “Bulk Actions” in the top bar, and choose “Resend SMS”. You can also trigger a resend directly from the customer’s individual profile page.

Question 9

What does the “Verify-SYS” tag mean in the customer profile?

Accepted Answer

The “Verify-SYS” tag is an automated internal indicator that the buyer clicked their unique verification link and passed authentication. Removing this tag from Shopify will cause Beacon to treat the buyer as unverified on their next transaction.

Beacon documentation & help center

Self-help guides & reference manuals

Getting started guide

Understanding blacklist & rules

Email templates: VOIP, landline & invalid

Understanding the SMS status column

High-risk signal icons reference

Frequently asked questions

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