Fraud Prevention

Interview: Authorize.Net President On Fraud Prevention

Authorize.Net, a CyberSource Solution, is a leading payment gateway company with many years experience in combating credit card fraud. We asked Roy Banks, President of Authorize.Net, about common errors that merchants make with fraud prevention.

PeC: What’s the biggest fraud-prevention mistake made by ecommerce merchants?

Roy Banks

BANKS: Failure to use the Address Verification Service. It’s a free option from most payment gateway companies and will potentially lower a merchant’s processing costs when used. Unfortunately, many merchants don’t use it. Another common mistake is merchants don’t always require the card verification code from the cardholder at the time of sale. This is also a service that is free from most payment gateway providers. By using both AVS and Card Verification Code, merchants will be able to better detect and prevent thieves who attempt to purchase with a stolen credit card number.

PeC: Where can a merchant turn if he’s confused or has questions related to fraud prevention?

BANKS: The merchant account provider is a great resource. Payment gateway companies can help, too.

PeC: Beyond using AVS and requiring Card Verification Code, what other fraud prevention efforts would you suggest?

BANKS: Remember it’s important to know your customer and know your order. By that, I mean to pay attention to order characteristics such as recognizing when an order is coming from a locale that doesn’t really fit your customer profile or the shipping address belongs to a country with high incidences of fraud.

Avoid post office boxes. When in doubt, call the customer ordering the product to confirm order detail and information.

There are also some very sophisticated fraud detection tools available to help merchants make better decisions about order acceptance. With these services, a merchant can potentially exclude orders that don’t fit acceptable order criteria. Merchants can also exclude orders from certain countries or not process transactions during certain times of the day. He can even suspend and investigate suspicious order activity. There are many other rules and filters a merchant can set up with these advanced tools.

PEC Staff
PEC Staff
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