Payment service provider PayGate says its automated fraud protection service PayProtector continues to save online businesses from lost revenue due to online fraud attempts.
“At one regional airline in Africa we reduced their incidence of fraud from over a million rand a month to under R80,000 in just one month,” says PayGate’s general manager for business development Brendon Williamson. “PayProtector costs very little to implement, its not as complicated as some of the bigger independent fraud engines, but its effective and powerful in detecting the activity of online fraudsters using stolen credit cards and fake identities
Williamson says fraudsters operate globally and are highly skilled and agile: “Once any particular site is known to be vulnerable they will take it for everything they can. We have seen online businesses wiped out in weeks.” The 3D Secure protection system introduced by MasterCard and Visa offers good protection, says Williamson, “but no single system can offer 100% protection without impacting your positive customers. It’s a fundamental process, but if you are operating in a high-risk space, its not good enough on its own.
PayProtector offers live online risk checking as well as a daily transaction report that highlights suspicious transactions. “We recommend live online checks for businesses that sell virtual products like software, music or vouchers that customers expect to be able to download immediately,” says Williamson. “As the transaction passes through our gateway we check it against a global database of known hot cards, as well as running it through additional monitoring rules. If the card or card holder is red flagged, we have the ability to reject the transaction or push for further investigation.
For businesses that ship physical products, “a daily transaction report may be all they need. We colour code transactions red, amber or green and the retailer has the freedom to decide what to do with each one. They may decide to delay shipping until the transaction is verified, or play it safe and instantly refund the transaction.
In many cases, says Williamson, the very fact that a fraud check and delays are in place is enough to discourage fraudsters. “Most of the time they’ll move on to a more vulnerable target rather than waste their time with a site that has some protection.
Online fraud is a reality, but there are proven ways to ensure that you do not become a victim, PayGates PayProtector is one of them.
* Follow Gadget on Twitter on @GadgetZA