Learn More About E-commerce Fraud Protection Software
What is Fraud Protection Software?
Fraud protection software is used to prevent e-commerce fraud. In general, e-commerce fraud is the unauthorized use of any information that results in an electronic business transaction. Online transactions have now become increasingly common, with more and more scammers coming to e-commerce sites to complete fraudulent purchases. This includes using someone else's personal information such as credit card and debit card numbers to make purchases. Scammers can obtain other people’s personal information in a variety of ways that including phishing for login credentials, data hacks, or other security breaches. If a person notices that a fraudulent purchase occurred with their personal financial information and that they were charged, they generally look to get a refund. E-commerce sites are liable for all refunds in online transactions. This leads to major losses for e-commerce businesses as they continually refund customers for purchases they did not even make. Additionally, it is important for e-commerce sites to prevent fraudulent transactions to ensure a smooth shopping experience for customers and to increase the overall security and reputation of their website.
Using fraud protection software, e-commerce businesses are able to reduce the risk of these fraudulent transactions and help prevent financial losses as well as damage to their credibility. When users deploy fraud protection software, each transaction is reviewed by the software vendor with the goal to evaluate if the transactions are legitimate. Fraud protection software is either delivered as an on-premise platform or as a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) product that runs security clearances over the web.
Key Benefits of Fraud Protection Software
- Improve the customer’s shopping experience by ensuring the security of their personal financial information
- Prevent financial losses by not having to refund customers due to fraudulent transactions
- Save time by avoiding the need to authorize that transactions were fraudulent
Why Use Fraud Protection Software?
At its core, fraud protection software is a tool used to enhance the credibility and security of an online marketplace. For companies that run online marketplaces, it’s paramount that customers receive a high level of security to feel safe while they are making online purchases. Frequent instances of fraudulent charges not only costs the business money, but it can also ruin their brand and reputation. This has the potential to drive customers away and hurt a business’s revenue in the long run. Fraud protection software helps prevent scammers from making fraudulent purchases through countless security features. A secure online marketplace ensures a smooth experience for both online marketplace owners as well as online shoppers.
Refunded chargebacks — When a fraudulent purchase is made and the customer expects a refund, the process is known as a chargeback. Users must remember that in fraudulent online transactions where a physical card is not present, the vendor is 100% responsible for refunding the customer. Since there are countless transactions per day, chargebacks occasionally occur and cost e-commerce businesses a good deal of money. However with fraud protection software, not only does the user reduce the risk of fraudulent purchases, but even when one is made, most fraud protection software vendors reimburse the business in full, including additional costs such as shipping and fees.
Increase customer loyalty — Customers want to know that their personal financial information is secure every time they are making an online purchase. If the online business is dealing with numerous fraud review issues, it may damage the brand reputation and steer customers away.
Comply with global standards — Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2 )is a new European regulation for electronic payment services. It was introduced to make online payments more secure in Europe. Fraud protection software automatically complies with PSD2 regulatory thresholds so e-commerce businesses do not have to spend time manually shifting their processes to meet these security standards.
Who Uses Fraud Protection Software?
E-commerce websites — Fraud protection software is mainly used by e-commerce vendors. Fraud protection software is used across a variety of industries that establish online marketplaces, from electronics and cosmetics to clothing and retail. Through established security protocols, fraud protection software makes sure that online marketplaces are secure for both buyers and online marketplace owners.
Travel industry — Fraud occurs semi-frequently in the travel industry and has cost airlines countless dollars in the past few years. Scammers either book travel with fake or stolen credit cards, or demand ticket cancellations to acquire flight credits. Fraud protection software protects travel and airline websites through transaction monitoring and user profiling.
Kinds of Fraud Protection Software
Software as a service (SaaS) fraud protection — The most common way that fraud protection software is sold is in a SaaS format. In this model, a customer signs up for a fraud protection service and agrees to pay a monthly fee, usually based on the number of transactions taking place each month. Once the customer pays for this service, the software vendor generally runs the software in the background on the online marketplace and checks each purchase that is made. The software is invisible to the customer. This allows businesses to scale their fraud protection services, depending on the number of monthly transactions. On the flip side, SaaS offerings require a monthly fee which is a recurring cost for small businesses.
On-premise fraud protection — On-premise fraud protection software is an offering in which users install the software onto their own hardware and manage the fraud protection software themselves. Security support employees then run the fraud protection software by installing and monitoring it to ensure that each purchase is being reviewed for signs of fraudulent activity. On-premise software is usually a one-time purchase and allows users to essentially own the software rather than pay a recurring monthly fee. On the flip side, users who purchase on-premise fraud protection software must manage the software themselves and troubleshoot any issues on their own.
Fraud Protection Software Features
Geolocation — Geolocation features allow fraud protection software to detect the location of the purchase. If a purchase appears to be coming from a different geographical region than where the purchaser is usually present, fraud protection software triggers extra security measures to ensure the purchase is valid.
Device recognition — Fraud protection software is able to detect if a purchase is being made from a device that is not normally used. If a user generally logs in on their desktop but is now making a purchase from a random phone, then fraud protection software runs through additional security measures to ensure the purchase is legitimate.
Proxy piercing — Scammers occasionally trick websites into thinking that they are in a different geographical location by using a proxy to disguise their IP address. Proxy piercing features allow for the accurate detection of the user’s true location and pinpoint if it is a fraudulent purchase.
Address verification — Address verification features allow fraud protection software users to detect if a billing address is different than the usual shipping address that is used. This is generally another red flag since this may indicate that a fraudulent charge is occurring.
Machine learning — Machine learning features allow fraud protection software to continually gather insights on red flags that indicate a purchase is likely to be fraudulent. As the software gathers more and more data, the more accurate it is in determining if a purchase is fraudulent.
Blacklists — Blacklists allow fraud prevention software to aggregate data from a list of fraudulent users and put those users on a blacklist. Fraud protection software generally gathers this data from a cross-merchant blacklist, which allows them to update these lists in real time and detect fraudulent purchases at a higher rate.
Other features of e-commerce fraud protection software: Bot Mitigation, ID Analytics, Intelligence Reporting, and Real-Time Reporting.
