ReBound Returns is a Business Reporter clientAnalysis of one million returns reveals a surprising behavioural pattern that could help retailers identify risk earlier.For years, retailers have invested heavily in preventing fraud at checkout. Advanced payment screening, identity verification and transaction monitoring have become standard practice across e-commerce. Yet one area remains comparatively overlooked: what happens after the purchase. Returns have become a defining part of the online shopping experience. Consumers expect them to be convenient, fast and frictionless. But as retailers work harder to simplify returns, they may also be creating new opportunities for abuse. The challenge is that returns fraud rarely resembles traditional fraud. It often hides within otherwise legitimate customer activity, making it harder to detect and even harder to quantify. Recent analysis by ReBound examined one million returns processed between July 2025 and May 2026. Among them, nearly 39,000 were flagged as potentially suspicious. So what did they data show us? What are the patterns for fraudulent items? The data showed that suspicious returns do not follow one single pattern. Risk can appear across timing, customer behaviour, geography, return history and operational checkpoints. In this analysis, timing emerged as one of the clearest behavioural signals. Returns flagged as potentially suspicious took almost twice as long to come back as standard returns. The median return journey lasted 18.8 days, compared with 9.5 days for typical returns. On its own, a delayed return proves nothing. Legitimate customers return items late for countless reasons. But at scale, behavioural patterns matter. When suspicious activity consistently follows a different pattern from normal customer behaviour, retailers gain a valuable signal that deserves closer attention. This highlights a broader shift in how leading retailers should be approaching fraud prevention. ReBound’s analysis identified nearly $30 million worth of return value associated with potentially suspicious activity during the 11-month period studied. This does not represent confirmed losses, nor guaranteed recoveries. Rather, it highlights the scale of value connected to returns that may warrant additional review before a refund is issued. At a time when margins remain under pressure, even small improvements in fraud detection can have a meaningful impact. The challenge is to ensure that customer experience is not affected while protecting the margins. Customers expect returns to be simple. Introducing unnecessary friction such as more limiting returns policies or much longer refund timespans risks damaging loyalty and discouraging future purchases. The most effective retailers are moving away from blanket policies and towards smarter decision-making. By understanding behavioural signals, they can focus attention where it is needed most while maintaining a seamless experience for genuine customers. For many organisations, returns remain one of the least visible parts of the e-commerce journey. That lack of visibility creates risk, but it can be turned into opportunity. As fraudsters become more sophisticated, the retailers that succeed will be those that treat returns data as a strategic asset rather than an operational afterthought. The question is no longer whether returns fraud exists. The question is what retailers are going to do to protect their revenue.Download the ReBound Fraud Guidebook to explore the latest returns fraud trends, signals and actionable strategies for fraud prevention.