Spammed with 70 failed orders?

Resolved

(@greendragonauthor)

Yikes! I just got SEVENTY orders overnight for short stories sold directly on my website… and they all failed.

I strongly suspect they’re all spamming attempts. 64 were for the same $0.99 short story, and 6 were for a second one, and they were all within a short time period. Many of them had emails like [email protected], though some had real-sounding names.

All of the errors were ‘Failed to process the payment’ However, I’m new to this selling direct on my website and while I’ve had several of my free short story go through fine, I’ve yet to have a successful paid sale except when I tested it on myself. I also had two failed ebook purchase attempts (for the same one, a $9.99 trilogy) last week with similar errors.

I’m on a WordPress site with Woocommerce and fulfillment with BookFunnel for my ebooks (and BookVault for my print).

Error on most if not all:

Failed to process the payment. Please try again or contact the shop admin. [UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY] The requested action could not be performed, semantically incorrect, or failed business validation. https://developer.paypal.com/api/rest/reference/orders/v2/errors/#ORDER_NOT_APPROVED CreditCardGateway.php:569 ORDER_NOT_APPROVED Payer has not yet approved the Order for payment. Please redirect the payer to the ‘rel’:’approve’ url returned as part of the HATEOAS links within the Create Order call or provide a valid payment_source in the request.
OrderEndpoint.php:346 Order status changed from Pending payment to Failed.

Failed to process the payment. Please try again or contact the shop admin. [UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY] The requested action could not be performed, semantically incorrect, or failed business validation. https://developer.paypal.com/api/rest/reference/orders/v2/errors/#PAYEE_NOT_ENABLED_FOR_CARD_PROCESSING CreditCardGateway.php:569 PAYEE_NOT_ENABLED_FOR_CARD_PROCESSING Payee account is not setup to be able to process card payments. Please contact PayPal customer support.
OrderEndpoint.php:346 Order status changed from Pending payment to Failed.

System Status Report

System Status Report:

### WordPress Environment ###

WordPress address (URL): [Redacted]
Site address (URL): [Redacted]
WC Version: 9.6.0
Legacy REST API Package Version: The Legacy REST API plugin is not installed on this site.
Action Scheduler Version: ✔ 3.9.0
Log Directory Writable: ✔
WP Version: 6.7.1
WP Multisite: –
WP Memory Limit: 1 GB
WP Debug Mode: –
WP Cron: ✔
Language: en_US
External object cache: –

### Server Environment ###

Server Info: Apache
PHP Version: 8.1.31
PHP Post Max Size: 256 MB
PHP Time Limit: 60
PHP Max Input Vars: 1000
cURL Version: 7.61.1
OpenSSL/1.1.1k

SUHOSIN Installed: –
MySQL Version: 8.0.41
Max Upload Size: 256 MB
Default Timezone is UTC: ✔
fsockopen/cURL: ✔
SoapClient: ✔
DOMDocument: ✔
GZip: ✔
Multibyte String: ✔
Remote Post: ✔
Remote Get: ✔

### Database ###

[REDACTED]

### Post Type Counts ###

attachment: 1383
custom_css: 3
nav_menu_item: 82
page: 39
post: 50
product: 78
product_variation: 162
pys_event: 1
revision: 918
shop_order: 161
wp_global_styles: 3
wp_navigation: 1
wp_template: 4
wp_template_part: 1
wppopups: 1

### Security ###

Secure connection (HTTPS): ✔
Hide errors from visitors: ✔

### Active Plugins (20) ###

Bookvault: by  – 4.0.0
Classic Editor: by WordPress Contributors – 1.6.7
Export Media Library: by Mass Edge Inc. – 4.0.2
GPSR for WooCommerce: by WP Desk – 1.0.3
Hello Dolly: by Matt Mullenweg – 1.7.2
Meta pixel for WordPress: by Facebook – 4.0.1
MailerLite - Signup forms (official): by MailerLite – 1.7.13
PixelYourSite: by PixelYourSite – 10.0.4
Post Type Switcher: by Triple J Software
Inc. – 3.3.1

Press This: by WordPress Contributors – 1.1.2
Simple Image Sizes: by Rahe – 3.2.4
Themify - WooCommerce Product Filter: by Themify – 1.5.2
WooCommerce.com Update Manager: by Automattic – 1.0.3
WooCommerce Amazon Pay: by Amazon Pay – 2.5.3
WooPayments: by WooCommerce – 8.8.0
WooCommerce PayPal Payments: by WooCommerce – 2.9.6
Woocommerce Products Per Page: by Jeroen Sormani – 1.2.8
WooCommerce Shipping & Tax: by WooCommerce – 2.8.7
WooCommerce Shipping: by WooCommerce – 1.4.0
WooCommerce: by Automattic – 9.6.0

### Inactive Plugins (5) ###

GS Book Showcase Lite: by GS Plugins – 3.0.2
Make Plus: by The Theme Foundry – 1.9.17
WooCommerce Blocks: by Automattic – 11.7.0
WooCommerce Legacy REST API: by WooCommerce – 1.0.4
WP Popups Lite: by timersys – 2.2.0.2

### Settings ###

Legacy API Enabled: ✔
Force SSL: –
Currency: USD ($)
Currency Position: left
Thousand Separator: ,
Decimal Separator: .
Number of Decimals: 2
Taxonomies: Product Types: external (external)
grouped (grouped)
simple (simple)
variable (variable)

Taxonomies: Product Visibility: exclude-from-catalog (exclude-from-catalog)
exclude-from-search (exclude-from-search)
featured (featured)
outofstock (outofstock)
rated-1 (rated-1)
rated-2 (rated-2)
rated-3 (rated-3)
rated-4 (rated-4)
rated-5 (rated-5)

Connected to WooCommerce.com: ✔
Enforce Approved Product Download Directories: –
HPOS feature enabled: –
Order datastore: WC_Order_Data_Store_CPT
HPOS data sync enabled: ✔

### Logging ###

Enabled: ✔
Handler: Automattic\WooCommerce\Internal\Admin\Logging\LogHandlerFileV2
Retention period: 30 days
Level threshold: –
Log directory size: 4 MB

### WC Pages ###

Shop base: #9182 - /books/
Cart: #9072 - /home/cart/ -  Contains the [woocommerce_cart] shortcode
Checkout: #9073 - /home/checkout/ -  Contains the [woocommerce_checkout] shortcode
My account: #28 - /home/my-account/
Terms and conditions: #8380 - /home/refund_returns/

### Theme ###

Name: Libreria
Version: 1.0.2
Author URL: https://themegrill.com
Child Theme: ❌ – If you are modifying WooCommerce on a parent theme that you did not build personally we recommend using a child theme. See: How to create a child theme
Theme type: Classic theme
WooCommerce Support: ✔

### Templates ###

Overrides: –

### WooPayments ###

Version: 8.8.0
Connected to WPCOM: Yes
WPCOM Blog ID: 237653927
Account ID: acct_1Q5rX3FxlH7nGR8o
Payment Gateway: Enabled
Test Mode: Disabled
Enabled APMs: card
WooPay: Enabled (product,cart,checkout)
WooPay Incompatible Extensions: No
Apple Pay / Google Pay: Enabled (product,cart,checkout)
Fraud Protection Level: basic
Multi-currency: Enabled
Auth and Capture: Disabled
Documents: Disabled
Logging: Enabled

### WooCommerce PayPal Payments ###

Onboarded: ✔
Shop country code: US
WooCommerce currency supported: ✔
Advanced Card Processing available in country: ✔
Pay Later messaging available in country: ✔
Webhook status: –
PayPal Vault enabled: –
ACDC Vault enabled: ✔
Logging enabled: –
Reference Transactions: –
Used PayPal Checkout plugin: –
Subscriptions Mode: Disabled
PayPal Shipping Callback: –
Apple Pay: –
Google Pay: –
Fastlane: –

### Admin ###

Enabled Features: activity-panels
analytics
product-block-editor
coupons
core-profiler
customize-store
customer-effort-score-tracks
import-products-task
experimental-fashion-sample-products
shipping-smart-defaults
shipping-setting-tour
homescreen
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mobile-app-banner
onboarding
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pattern-toolkit-full-composability
product-custom-fields
remote-inbox-notifications
remote-free-extensions
payment-gateway-suggestions
printful
shipping-label-banner
subscriptions
store-alerts
transient-notices
woo-mobile-welcome
wc-pay-promotion
wc-pay-welcome-page
launch-your-store

Disabled Features: product-data-views
experimental-blocks
coming-soon-newsletter-template
minified-js
product-pre-publish-modal
settings
async-product-editor-category-field
product-editor-template-system
blueprint
reactify-classic-payments-settings
use-wp-horizon
add-to-cart-with-options-stepper-layout
blockified-add-to-cart

Daily Cron: ✔ Next scheduled: 2025-01-31 10:06:37 +00:00
Options: ✔
Notes: 205
Onboarding: completed

### Action Scheduler ###

Canceled: 1
Oldest: 2025-01-23 14:07:56 +0000
Newest: 2025-01-23 14:07:56 +0000

Complete: 1,999
Oldest: 2024-12-30 14:01:31 +0000
Newest: 2025-01-30 13:41:47 +0000

Failed: 13
Oldest: 2023-02-14 22:38:17 +0000
Newest: 2024-12-17 22:37:36 +0000

Pending: 2
Oldest: 2025-01-30 14:05:44 +0000
Newest: 2025-01-30 22:29:01 +0000


### Status report information ###

Generated at: 2025-01-30 13:42:39 +00:00

The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

denialdesign
(@denialdesign)

1 year, 3 months ago

Hi, this has been happening to a lot of other sites recently. See this thread for more information:

https://ww.wp.xz.cn/support/topic/attcked-by-card-testing-decline-orders-with-origin-unknown/

Plugin Support shahzeen(woo-hc)
(@shahzeenfarooq)

1 year, 3 months ago

Hi there!

I understand you’re receiving too many spam orders. To assist you further, could you please confirm whether all the orders are placed through PayPal using the WooCommerce PayPal plugin, or if you’re receiving these orders from both PayPal and WooPayments payment methods?

Additionally, I have found that many users experiencing similar issues are using the WooCommerce PayPal plugin. For testing purposes, could you please deactivate the PayPal plugin and see if that resolves the issue? For reference, you can use this ticket: link to ticket.

If the issue is resolved after deactivating the PayPal plugin, I would suggest creating a ticket with the plugin support so they can further investigate. Thank you!

Alternatively, you can use the following solution mentioned in this article: Blocking Card Testing Attacks in WooCommerce.
thedrumdoctor
(@thedrumdoctor)

1 year, 3 months ago
I concur – this has been happening a lot recently via PayPal’s payment processing plugin. It’s on the PayPal user forum most recently in Dec 2024 – same time as it was happening to me.

I have Cloudways hosting with a firewall, Cloudflare CDN and RE-CAPTCHA but the fake testing orders still get through. To cut a long story short, what nobody tells you (and seeing as PayPal obviously don’t read their user’s problems in the forums), there are some steps you can take on a business account. So, if you have a business account, go to your PayPal dashboard then:
- Look for the ‘Quick Links’ section of the dashboard and click on ‘Business Tools’
- Scroll down (their mess of a page) to the ‘Manage risk’ section and click on the ‘Fraud Protection’ option.
- Click on the ‘Get Started’ link.
- At the top of the page, the second row of menu options will have a link saying ‘Filters’ which you should click on.
- You will then see a list of filters to check the incoming payment which are all switched off!
From here you can configure the filters for checking. I switched the first 5 in the list to ‘on’ and the filter for ‘Number of payment attempts in the last 15 minutes’ to an amount of 3. If they’re trying more than three times they can get lost!!!

As usual, PayPal don’t tell you about this so we have to suffer the pain out of the box.

The extra plugin suggested in this thread will also do the same thing and more, whilst likely being more user-friendly. PayPal’s filters are free – if you can find them! However, I have only just switched on the filters so I’ve yet to see if they’re working.

When I check the Cloudways firewall logs on our installation it appears the biggest culprits come from China, Hong Kong and Singapore. We don’t need customers from those regions so I’ve blocked them. Other culprits come from USA, South America and Europe which become more painful to block on country basis (we have had customers from various countries in those territories). Strangely enough, we haven’t had many BOT type attacks for a long time from Russian IP ranges which I didn’t block. We had some genuine Russian customers in the past and it’s so sad what’s happened with the war. If you have a firewall dashboard with your hosting it’s always worth checking in to see what countries are visiting and if you really need their traffic. The WooCommerce orders always give an IP address which you can at least trace back to an ISP.
Zee
(@doublezed2)

1 year, 3 months ago

Hello thedrumdoctor,

Thank you for your suggestion.

Hopefully, this will be helpful for many users.

Have a great day!

thedrumdoctor
(@thedrumdoctor)

1 year, 3 months ago

No problem @doublezed2 – because PayPal don’t seem to care!

Zee
(@doublezed2)

1 year, 3 months ago

Hello thedrumdoctor,

Thank you for your reply.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us in the future if you need any assistance.
We are here for your help.

Have a great day!