Chapa Radar — Merchant Guide (Step-by-step)

Purpose: A clear, merchant-facing step-by-step guide to Chapa’s Radar fraud-prevention features. Focused on how to set up Radar, create lists & rules, and specifically how to limit or disable withdrawals using Radar.

1. Quick overview

Radar provides real-time fraud protection via configurable lists and rules.
Use it to allow, review, or block payments and payouts based on customer data, amounts, IPs, devices, etc.
You can also set daily withdrawal limits to prevent repeated fraud attempts, either at a business level (Daily Limit) or per customer account (Daily Limit - Account Level).

2. Before you start

• Have your Chapa dashboard login (dashboard.chapa.co).
   
• Decide the change you need: block specific accounts, limit maximum withdrawals, enforce daily withdrawal caps, or auto-review suspicious transactions.
   
• Plan a short testing window (use a small set of test accounts) so you don't accidentally block real customers.
   

3. Enable Radar

• Sign in to dashboard.chapa.co.
   
• From the left menu click Radar.
   
• If the radar toggle is off, switch it on to activate the service.
   

4. Create Lists (block / allow / thresholds)

What lists are for: store values to match against (phone, account number, IP, amount, email, device id, location, customer id, etc.).

Now also supported:

• Daily Limit — to set a total maximum withdrawal cap across your business for a 24-hour period.
   
• Daily Limit (Account Level) — to set a daily withdrawal limit for each individual customer account.
   

How to add a list:

• Click the Lists tab inside Radar.
   
• Click Add Lists (top-right).
   
• Fill fields:
   
  • Name — readable label (e.g., Blocked Payout Accounts, Max Withdrawal Amount, Daily Limit).
     
  • Slug — optional URL-friendly name.
     
  • Type — choose from Phone Number, Account Number, IP Address, Amount, Email Address, Card Number, Customer ID, Device ID, Location, Name, Daily Limit, or Daily Limit (Account Level).
     
  • Lists — enter items (comma-separated) or upload CSV. For Amount/Daily Limit use numeric values.
     
• Click Add and confirm the toast notification.
   

Examples for withdrawal control:

• Blocked Payout Accounts (Type: Account Number) — add account numbers you want to block.
   
• Maximum Withdrawal Amount (Type: Amount) — add numeric thresholds (e.g., 1000 to represent your maximum amount allowed).
   
• Daily Limit (Type: Daily Limit) — add a business-wide daily cap (e.g., 100,000) to stop all withdrawals exceeding that total within 24h.
   
• Daily Limit per Account (Type: Daily Limit - Account Level) — add a per-customer threshold (e.g., 5000) to limit how much one customer can withdraw in a day.
   

5. Create Rules (Authorization / Block)

Rule types:

• Authorization Rules — used to require review/approval before allowing a transaction.
   
• Block Rules — used to automatically block transactions that match the rule.
   

How to add a rule:

• Click the Rules tab.
   
• Click Add Rule (top-right).
   
• Configure:
   
  • Attribute — data field to evaluate (Mobile, Email, Amount, Daily Amount, Daily Limit, Daily Limit - Account Level, etc.).
     
  • Operator — equals, not equals, greater than, less than, contains, etc.
     
  • List — choose the list you created.
     
  • Rule Type (Applied to) — choose whether it applies to Payouts (withdrawals) or Payins (deposits).
     
• Use Test Rule to simulate and verify the rule against sample data.
   
• Rules are disabled by default — enable only after testing.
   

Examples to disable or limit withdrawals:

• Block specific accounts (immediate disable):
   
  • Create Blocked Payout Accounts list (Account Number).
     
  • Add a Block Rule with Attribute = Account Number, Operator = Equal To, List = Blocked Payout Accounts, Applied to = Payouts.
     
  • This will automatically deny payouts to any listed account.
     
• Limit maximum withdrawal amount (per transaction):
   
  • Create Maximum Withdrawal Amount list (Type: Amount).
     
  • Add a Block Rule with Attribute = Amount, Operator = Greater Than, Applied to = Payouts.
     
• Limit total withdrawals per day (business-wide):
   
  • Create a Daily Limit list (Type: Daily Limit) with your threshold.
     
  • Add a Block Rule with Attribute = Daily Limit, Operator = Greater Than, Applied to = Payouts.
     
  • Once the cap is reached, all further payouts that day will return “Daily Limit Reached”.
     
• Limit total withdrawals per day (per customer):
   
  • Create a Daily Limit - Account Level list with your per-customer threshold.
     
  • Add a Block Rule with Attribute = Daily Limit - Account Level, Operator = Greater Than, Applied to = Payouts.
     
  • Once a user hits the limit, any additional withdrawals for that day will be blocked with “Daily Limit Reached”.
     
• Soft-block (manual review) for edge cases:
   
  • Use an Authorization Rule instead of a Block Rule so matching transactions are flagged for manual review before release.
     

6. Test & Enable

Use Test Rule for each rule to ensure correct matching and avoid false positives.
Start with rules disabled while you test in production with a small traffic sample or use a test account flow.
Once confident, enable the rules and monitor logs closely for unexpected outcomes.

7. Monitoring, logging & rollback

Check transaction logs regularly after enabling rules to ensure legitimate transactions aren’t blocked.
If you find legitimate blocks, either:

• Edit the rule (change operator or list), or
   
• Disable the rule temporarily, or
   
• Remove specific values from the offending list.
   

8. Best practices

• Start conservative: test on a small subset and gradually tighten rules.
   
• Use whitelists for trusted customers (allow lists) to prevent accidental blocks.
   
• Keep lists up to date: remove obsolete accounts and update thresholds monthly.
   
• Document changes: keep a changelog of who added/edited rules and why.
   
• Use Authorization first for new rules (require manual review), then switch to Block once confident.
   

9. Troubleshooting tips

• If legitimate payouts are blocked: test the rule, check list formats (account number format), and confirm the Applied to field is set to Payouts.
   
• If nothing is happening: ensure Radar toggle is ON and the rule is enabled.
   
• If unsure, disable the rule and contact Chapa support via Telegram or support.chapa.co.
   

10. Quick example (UI flow)

• Dashboard → Radar → Lists → Add Lists → Name: Blocked Payout Accounts → Type: Account Number → add accounts → Add.
   
• Dashboard → Radar → Rules → Add Rule → Attribute: Account Number → Operator: Equal To → List: Blocked Payout Accounts → Rule Type: Payouts → Test Rule → Enable.