Posted on August 5th, 2010 by Tom Grubb
CyberSource just released an excellent white paper titled Improving Automated Screening to Overcome Increasingly Sophisticated Fraud that’s stuffed full of valuable advice and insights by Paul Brock, one of their top fraud management consultants. You may think “clean fraud” sounds like an oxymoron but it fits as a description of fraudsters getting better (cleaner) at applying more complete and accurate personal data from stolen identities/credit cards to commit fraud. Brock’s knowledge and experience are well-worth reading in this white paper—he’s on the front lines of fighting online fraud, helping customers take and keep control over fraud 24 x 7.
You can request a copy of the CyberSource white paper here.
Brock’s premise is that because fraudsters have gotten smarter about using more and better personal data and strategies (“clean” fraud) to make it appear as though they are legitimate customers, organizations need to adopt more and better fraud prevention tools and strategies to control fraud. He points to ThreatMetrix’s Fraud Network, “combined with cross-merchant transaction histories” as providing an effective strategy for detecting “clean” fraud.
Here are just some of the valuable points that Brock discusses in this paper:
- Next-generation device identification solutions, those that offer “both browser fingerprint and packet signature inspection,” deliver a new and rich source of information about the computer/device, it’s internet connection and it’s behavior that go beyond the “ just the apparent identities involved in the transaction”
- Device identification technology opens a new avenue of correlation that can be used in fraud screening: you have an additional element that can be examined with regard to velocity, and for detecting identity morphing.
- Device fingerprinting must go beyond the surface of identifying the transacting device, to identify whether additional suspicious activities might be at work. In the process of collecting the device identification attributes, your implementation of device fingerprinting should also interrogate the device about how it is being used and how it may be under the control of another device.
There’s a ton of great information in the white paper, get a copy and learn how to stay ahead of clean fraud.
- Tom
Tags: clean fraud, cybersource, white paper
Posted in Botnets, Credit Card Transactions, Device Identification, Identity Theft, Online Credit Card Transactions, Online Fraud Trends, Payments Management | No Comments »
Posted on July 22nd, 2010 by Tom Grubb
Scammers threaten to make casual gaming not-so-casual. Virtual goods—the currency of trade for social games are coveted by cybercriminals for their hard cash value. According to a new article in the Wall Street Journal titled Fraudsters Like Virtual Goods, “merchants that sell digital goods lost 1.9% of all revenue to fraud in 2009, compared with a 1.1% fraud rate for companies that sell physical goods online,” based on data from CyberSource Corp. (a ThreatMetrix partner). The WSJ points out “at first glance it’s hard to imagine fraudsters’ interest in items like computerized swords for a fantasy game. But these goods are often easier to obtain.”
Digital goods purchases are different than physical goods purchases. The WSJ reports that PayPal transacted more than $2 billion in digital goods transactions, with a PayPal spokesperson describing the category as having “a higher degree of nefarious activity.”
These transactions are unique in that they cater to the gamer’s desire for instant gratification and low tolerance for hassle getting online. That means fraud prevention measures must be transparent to the gamer and effective at detecting/preventing fraud. Because gamers are especially sensitive to any delay, and because digital fulfillment is typically instantaneous fraud detection must occur instantly—and not simply an accept or reject call, but supporting data that gives the fraud analysts the full context of the transaction (for example, the true IP address and geolocation if the gamer is using a hidden proxy).
Taking the pulse of attendees and exhibitors here at Casual Connect 2010 in Seattle this week, it’s clear that scammers have become a big concern for many from payment facilitators to household name gaming companies. Much more this year than last, they are very aware of the kinds of games the scammers play to rob them of revenue. This fast growing segment of the industry appears ready to do more to blunt the scammers.
- Tom
Tags: casual game fraud, cybersource, virtual goods fraud, WSJ
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
