A negative list is a record of users, devices, IP addresses, or payment methods that have previously been associated with fraud, chargebacks, or policy violations. These lists are maintained by merchants or fraud prevention providers and used to block transactions before they’re processed. This helps prevent repeat offenders from committing fraud or filing invalid chargebacks.

Negative lists can be used to block individual cardholders or account users, groups or organizations (such as high-risk issuers), or entire countries.

For merchants dealing with repeat fraud, a negative list can act as a powerful filter. Blocking high-risk inputs before authorization helps reduce fees, protect customer trust, and preserve your chargeback ratio. Reviewing your negative list regularly also prevents unnecessary false positives.

AltoPay allows you to build and maintain your own negative lists within your fraud tools. Our support team can also help you identify individuals, groups, or regions that should be added to your list.