A fake phone number is the cheapest way to send you an order nobody will collect. SMS verification makes the customer confirm their number with a one time code before the order is created. Open Fraud Protection and choose the OTP Verification tab. A badge at the top reads Protection against fake orders is active or its inactive twin.
The card named COD form says "Customers confirm by SMS before the order is placed". With it on, the order is only created after the code has been checked, so an unverified number never becomes an order.
The second card, Storefront checkout, says "Customers confirm by SMS before continuing to Shopify checkout". It adds the step in front of your checkout buttons, and the order itself is created by Shopify checkout, not by the app.
On the COD form, pressing the purchase button opens a window that sends the code and asks for it in six boxes. A correct code confirms and the order goes through; a wrong one can be retried. An exit layer asks them to finish the order if they try to close the window. A number verified in the last 24 hours is usually not challenged again. Only the 25 most recent verifications for the whole shop are checked, so on a busy store a returning customer can be challenged again, at the cost of another credit.
The window has limits of its own, which is what a merchant testing on their own phone usually hits: a resend only every 30 seconds, 3 codes per number per 15 minutes and 8 per day, 6 attempts at a code, and a lockout after 12 failures in 15 minutes.
The Modal content card covers five screens: Phone screen, Code screen, Confirmed, Rejected and Exit overlay. Live preview shows the result, and Reset to defaults undoes your edits for the selected language.
When OTP credits run out offers Allow order without OTP, which is the default, and Block order until credits are topped up. On the default an empty balance means orders keep coming in unverified, and the app tells you so with a No OTP credits left banner.
Buy a credit pack before you switch verification on, so the first customer is not the one who finds the balance empty.
Block lists on the User Blocking tab handle the repeat offenders that verification alone does not stop.
Stuck on any of this? Open the chat in the bottom right corner of the app and we will help you set it up.
