Detty December in Nigeria is more than a season; it is an economic event. From Lagos to Abuja, the last weeks of the year trigger a surge in spending across nightlife, hospitality, fashion, e-commerce, travel, and events. Concerts sell out in minutes, restaurants extend operating hours, online merchants see record orders, and fintech rails hum under unprecedented transaction volumes. Yet beneath this festive boom lies a growing, less glamorous problem: fraudulent chargebacks.
At its core, a chargeback is a consumer protection mechanism. When a cardholder reports an unauthorized transaction or a failure of service, banks reverse the transaction and investigate. In principle, it keeps the payments ecosystem fair. In practice—especially during high-velocity seasons like Detty December—it can be abused. Fraudulent chargebacks, often called friendly fraud, occur when customers dispute legitimate transactions to recover funds after receiving goods or services.
Why Detty December Creates the Perfect Storm
Three forces collide during Detty December. First is volume. Transaction counts spike dramatically, stretching merchant operations, customer support, logistics, and reconciliation teams. When teams are overwhelmed, gaps appear—missed confirmations, delayed deliveries, incomplete documentation. Fraud thrives in gaps.
Second is urgency. Last-minute purchases dominate the season: same-day deliveries, rush bookings, pop-up events, flash sales, and informal vendors onboarding quickly to “catch the wave.” Verification controls are often relaxed in the name of speed and conversion.
Third is cross-border complexity. Diaspora returnees arrive with foreign-issued cards, higher spending limits, and unfamiliar authentication flows. Merchants, eager not to lose sales, sometimes bypass stricter checks. That goodwill can later become a liability when disputes emerge weeks after the party ends.
Likely Scenarios Merchants Are Already Facing
Scenario 1: The Event Ticket Dispute
A customer buys a high-value concert ticket online using a debit card. They attend the event, post videos on social media, and enjoy the night. In January, they file a chargeback claiming “service not rendered” or “card not present fraud.” If the event organiser lacks solid attendance logs—QR scans, entry timestamps, or name matching—the bank may side with the cardholder. The organiser loses the revenue and pays a chargeback fee.
Scenario 2: The Same-Day Delivery Trap
An Instagram vendor receives a rush order for designer wear or electronics with same-day delivery. The rider delivers successfully, but proof of delivery is weak—no OTP, no photo, no signature. Days later, the buyer disputes the charge, claiming non-delivery. Without verifiable evidence, the merchant absorbs the loss.
Scenario 3: The Merchant Descriptor Confusion
A customer makes several festive purchases in quick succession. When reviewing their January bank statement, they see an unfamiliar merchant name (a payment aggregator descriptor rather than the brand they recognize). Instead of contacting the merchant, they dispute the transaction outright. The bank reverses the payment, and the merchant scrambles to respond.
Scenario 4: The Diaspora “Double Spend”
A returning visitor pays for services—restaurant bills, club tables, hotel add-ons—using an international card. Later, back home, they claim they didn’t authorize certain charges. Cross-border dispute resolution takes longer, evidence thresholds are higher, and merchants often lack the documentation required by international card schemes.
The Real Cost Beyond Lost Revenue
Fraudulent chargebacks hurt more than a single transaction. High dispute ratios can trigger rolling reserves, delayed settlements, higher processing fees, or even merchant account suspension. For small businesses, this can be fatal cash-flow-wise. At an ecosystem level, widespread abuse forces fintechs and banks to tighten controls, raising friction for everyone—legitimate customers and honest merchants alike.
What Smart Merchants Are Doing Differently
The most resilient businesses treat chargeback prevention as part of festive readiness, not an afterthought.
They invest in transaction hygiene: clear receipts, immediate payment confirmations via SMS or WhatsApp, and recognizable merchant names. They strengthen delivery evidence: OTP-based delivery confirmation, timestamped photos, and basic digital logs—even simple Google Forms tied to order IDs can help.
Event organisers deploy attendance verification—QR scans, wristbands linked to names, or check-in lists stored securely. Restaurants and clubs keep booking confirmations and table records tied to payment references.
Crucially, smart merchants also refine communication. Clear refund and cancellation policies displayed at checkout reduce “impulse disputes.” Responsive customer support channels resolve confusion before it escalates to a bank complaint.
Finally, they monitor patterns. Repeat disputers, unusually high-value rush orders, and inconsistent customer details are flagged early. Fraud prevention, even at a basic level, is cheaper than chargeback recovery.
A Festive Economy Worth Protecting
Detty December is a powerful engine for Nigeria’s consumer economy. It creates jobs, drives innovation, and showcases the country’s creative energy to the world. But as spending accelerates, so must discipline. Fraudulent chargebacks are the hidden tax on festive growth—quiet, cumulative, and damaging.
For merchants, the message is clear: celebration should not come at the cost of sustainability. Those who balance speed with structure will not only survive Detty December—they will keep more of the value it creates long after the music fades.
