E-commerce Times interviewed Samuel Kaufman, Head of Risk Management at SafeCharge, for an article on fraud prevention and how to prevent chargebacks. 

Fraud prevention, in its many layers and forms, is one of the most important services that can be provided to e-merchants. With each passing year, fraudsters become more experienced and new forms of fraud are developed.

What is different in recent years is that we have been dealing with an economic recession. As a result, there has been an increase in the amount of “friendly fraud,” with people making online purchases legitimately and then making chargebacks when they realize they don’t have the money to pay.

“Chargeback” is one of the words online merchants despise the most, as it means not only the loss of their product or service, but also the risk of heavy fines, account closures, and even blacklisting.

As banks may be less strict with chargeback initiation throughout this challenging economic period, this fraud has been a big challenge for merchants in 2009, and will continue throughout 2010.

For many online merchants, there has also recently been a decrease in the amount of volume and an increase in the amount of fraud, which means chargeback ratios will rise drastically and will therefore have a greater risk of being closed by the bank. With fraudsters, it is a cause- and-effect relationship: First, they develop the fraud method. Then fraud-prevention tools follow — the fraudsters are always one step ahead of everyone else.

They have also infiltrated the affiliate world. Some affiliates are concerned only with their commissions, so they often don’t care to differentiate between fraud and solid sales.  Affiliate fraud has merchants drowning in chargebacks and paying commission to someone who has not brought business.

Also, fraudsters can register as affiliates and send 100 percent fraud to merchants. Since affiliates can design their own nicknames, fraudsters can come back again and again with different names.

Fraud prevention differs from fraud detection, as recognizing fraud is not enough — it needs to be stopped. The merchant’s payment provider should investigate all efforts to “fight back” the charged amount from the acquiring bank. Once the fraud has been detected, proper features can be implemented by the payment provider to prevent future fraudulent activity.

Using a sophisticated IPSP (Internet payment service provider) that offers fraud-protection features specific to each industry in which an e-merchant works will definitely help reduce the amount of fraud. A few examples of such features are rule engines and behavioral purchasing patterns — that is, knowing how to identify fraud patterns.

Also, tracking the patterns of customers on the Web site and knowing how to track suspicious or irregular end-users who may be fraudsters in disguise will help a merchant get the best fraud protection and help to preent chargebacks.

Every service provider provides risk support, but the best ones offer a combination of a sophisticated system and support team. A common approach of fraud protection in any online industry is to block all suspicious transactions through an automated system.

Instead, a risk support team should always communicate with the merchant online about a particular suspicious transaction. That way, the decision to approve or block a suspicious transaction is made by both parties working together in an educated manner.

Maximum fraud prevention means having to be equipped with the detection and screening tools to ensure maximum protection with minimum rejection rate. A trained risk manager with a wide array of experience should also be dedicated to your account, as professional human judgment should always be intertwined with even the most superior technological system.

The combination of the two ensures that all transactions that will lead to profit are approved and those that will lead to fraud, loss, and fines should be recognized and declined.

The old and outdated “scrubbing” system does not work — too many potential valid sales are lost and approval ratios suffer. Only the combination of superior technology and the proficient risk team can bring the kind of success that ensures maximum conversion rates with minimal fraud.

As technology advances, so does the level of sophistication of online fraudsters. As such, the rules and regulations of the credit card companies must become stricter in order to protect e-merchants and their clients from fraud, theft, and hacking. Therefore, all online merchants should be compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).

PCI security standards are operational requirements set by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council in order to protect card holder data. The standards govern all merchants and organizations that store, process or transmit this data.

Any company that wants to have the most secure card storage should be PCI-certified. If one does not want to be PCI certified, however, then it is possible to utilize a payment provider’s credit card storage. This protects merchants by storing the database of customer card information with the PCI-certified processor, which has ultimate security and no risk of hackers aiming to use and abuse personal data. This not only relieves the merchant of the burden of storing classified information but also protects its core business.

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/68542.html

Online payment solutions created Traffic Management features with e-merchants who use more than one bank in mind,  as they simplify the transaction management process.  

Managing traffic means routing the transactions to the most suitable location – the acquiring bank that will give the transaction the best rate, approval chance and best overall condition.  This routing is based on bin number, country, credit card company, currency and other predefined rules.  This not only helps raise approval ratios but also helps increase sales conversions and provides the transaction with the most customized treatment possible.

“Multi-banking”, or utilizing multiple payment options, can be a huge benefit for your business.  This approach relieves both brokers of redundant processes and is both cost-effective and bureaucratically hassle-free.

Partnering with a service provider that is so widely connected to banks as well as additional payment options means that you are covered from every angle and spared the long process of constantly applying for new merchant accounts that have different requirements and standards.   This approach to multi-banking also saves money on handling and administrative fees, as well as the time consuming application processes that differ per bank.

If there are technical problems with a certain bank or a sudden change in a bank’s policies, such as temporarily stopping processing transactions or discontinuing a payment method that is crucial to your business, potential sales can be lost.  If this occurs and you work with a PSP with only one acquiring bank, you can lose money as well as credibility with your traders, which is why multiple banking opportunities are so important for brokers.  The PSP retains the ability to switch your processing to another bank with which they are connected – without losing a minute of profitability.

“Chargeback” is the word merchants dread most.  Not only do chargebacks mean the loss of an expected sale, but it can also mean heavy fines, blacklisting and in cases of excessive chargebacks, closing of the merchant account.  As profitable as a merchant may think he is, he is often in for a surprise when he finds much of that alleged business was actually fraud waiting to result in chargebacks. 

For these reasons, merchants use online payment solutions that lead them through the standard fraud checks such as card verification process and developing country blockage, among others.  However, even with these processors, chargebacks can sometimes still occur.

Some payment processors have systems for advanced chargeback prevention that is integrated into the merchant’s own admin back-office.   Such a system has the ability to alert the merchant when a chargeback has been made, or better yet, when a “retrieval” has been made. A retrieval is the critical stage where an end-user simply inquires about the charge before he makes an official chargeback.  Once this happens, the bank notifies the payment processor and they are able to alert the merchant instantly by posting a notification in his back-office.  This feature is important because it gives the merchant enough time to settle the issue directly with the end-user, before the official chargeback  occurs.

In the event that a chargeback should nonetheless occur, they too will be immediately posted in the merchant’s back-office, so that the merchant can immediately block the problematic user and terminate any pending activity with him. 

This type of feature cuts down chargebacks, keeps merchants within permitted thresholds set by the international credit card companies, and most of all, guarantees no unwanted surprises.

International wire transfers can be full of bureaucratic hassles and have fees that make traders think twice about being in the business.  One way to alleviate this is to make international wires local by using a local APM.  This not only saves money on the international wire transfer fees but also cuts down on the time the trader has to wait to receive his money. 

Certain payment processors have the ability to make an international wire transfer appear as if it is local.  The money is sent through at local time and even before it actually arrives, the money is credited to the trader’s account.  The funds can be made available within 24 hours, instead of having to wait for international wire delays.

A cascading billing feature is ideal for those merchants who use more than one bank.  This type of feature was created by an online payment solution in order to maximize the number of approved transactions.

The way it works is that each transaction cycle creates a transaction ID and each ID receives a response – approval, decline or error.  If the transaction receives an ‘approval’ the first time it is sent to a bank, the transaction is completed and no further work is necessary. 

With a cascading feature implemented, if the transaction receives a ‘referral’ or ‘timeout’ response, instead of being returned to the merchant and essentially the end-user, the system automatically reroutes the transaction to the next best bank.  If the transaction fails in the next bank, it is rerouted over and over until it has been sent to all of the banks available for use. 

This type of feature significantly helps increase approval ratio, as it utilizes all the banking resources available.

Those brokers who have been in the business a long time know that certain traders should be afforded special privileges.  This not only makes them have an affinity for those brokers but also gives those traders certain abilities that first time or unreliable traders don’t have. 

With a VIP customer identification feature implemented,  brokers who know which of their traders are reliable, trust worthy and most of all profitable, can allow them special accounts with higher deposits and no limits.   These accounts are identified as VIP sub accounts but can be under the same MID as a regular account.

A VIP identification feature can also alert a broker in real-time when a profitable trader is online, and he can use it to promote further promotional tactics while the trader is online and ready to spend.  From a risk standpoint, transactions from those end-users undergo more lenient fraud checks.

Traders love to feel important and by allowing those who are trusted and who have proven themselves reliable certain benefits, they will always prefer one broker over another.

Do you know how secure your payment page really is?  Too many times, online merchants have had their payment pages hacked into, which resulted in theft of end-user data.  Once an end-user no longer trusts the security of your site, that customer and all those that he would have brought are lost.  You know you can use your processor’s payment page, but you don’t want to lose your branding that you’ve worked so hard on, and not all public payment pages fit your particular business needs. What to do?

Recently, a new concept was developed of offering merchants a payment page that is designed to make the transaction process as simple and effortless as possible.  Customized according to the merchant’s payment needs, the payment page can be “transparent”, meaning that it can have the merchant as the face behind the billing, or the merchant can choose to use their payment processor as the face.

Utilizing the secure payment page will ease the merchant’s transaction process by allowing him to only transfer the parameters that are absolutely necessary for the transaction, such as amount and currency.  The rest of the information will be obtained by the payment processor, saving the time and effort of the merchant.  Additionally, all new features, functions, and payment methods will automatically be updated and enabled into the merchant’s system, without the need of a further integration process making it well worth the while!

Ask your online payment solution if the payment page you currently use is the most secure one out there.

SafeCharge has passed its annual Level 1 PCI Certification!

As the requirements for the Level One PCI Compliance certification are stringent and must be updated, reviewed and submitted on a yearly basis, this means that SafeCharge’s merchants/brokers can be assured that they are receiving the most secure payment processing and card storage available.