This study examines the role of forensic accounting in preventing and identifying digital transaction fraud on the Shopee Indonesia platform. The rapid growth of e‑commerce has increased the risk of digital fraud, including discount manipulation, account takeover, phantom sellers, and refund fraud. In this context, the research adopts a qualitative case‑study approach, using in‑depth interviews with accounting practitioners, internal Shopee documents from 2022–2025, and related literature from Scopus, Google Scholar, and regulatory institutions. Thematic analysis with NVivo reveals that forensic accounting plays a strategic role both preventively and detective‑ly. In the preventive dimension, the integration of data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence enables the development of an early‑warning system to detect suspicious transaction patterns in real time. In the detective phase, forensic accounting supports the tracing of digital audit trails, reconstruction of event timelines, identification of perpetrators, and accurate estimation of financial losses. The findings emphasize that the effectiveness of forensic accounting largely depends on auditors’ competence and experience, as well as the synergy between digital forensic technology and professional judgment. These results contribute conceptually to strengthening fraud‑risk management in the e‑commerce ecosystem, particularly by informing internal policies, digital literacy programs, and the integration of forensic accounting into Shopee Indonesia’s governance framework.
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