How to Mitigate Fraud Risks and Best Serve eCommerce Customers

Technologies such as wireless, mobile apps and digital payments have given consumers more options than ever for purchasing products and services.

This ongoing evolution in technology-based payment choices is both creating opportunities for and putting pressure on merchants to meet the expectations of these newly empowered digital consumers. Research by Cybersource, a Visa solution, shows that today’s consumers are 63% more likely to shop with merchants that offer their preferred payment options.[1]

Unfortunately, the proliferation of new payment channels for consumers is also creating a growing opportunity for fraudsters looking to take advantage of consumers who embrace digital payments. For the second consecutive year, fraud costs rose around the globe.[2]

Phishing/pharming, card testing, identity theft, and first-party misuse remain the most prevalent fraud attacks, each affecting more than three in 10 merchants globally, according to 2022 Global Fraud Report, by the Merchants Risk Council, Cybersource, and Verifi. Furthermore, the same report states that nine out of 10 merchants “have experienced at least one fraud management challenge… The most pervasive and impactful challenges are identifying and responding to fraud attacks, changing business models because of COVID, and expanding into new sales channels.”

Although merchants in the digital age increasingly recognize that optimizing the customer experience is critical to the success of their businesses, the proliferation of payment fraud has prompted them to prioritize their fraud management strategy. Merchants report using an average of four fraud detection tools and services, with payment card and identity verification services, 3D-Secure, and two-factor phone authentication being the most widely used tools.[3]

However, deemphasizing the customer experience in favor of fraud reduction could hurt brand loyalty and future revenue growth.

Intelligent tools for fighting fraud

Fraudsters may change tactics and techniques to take advantage of emerging payment technologies that aren’t yet fully secure. This puts constant pressure on fraud teams to keep up with the bad guys.

In addition, eCommerce security units must strike a balance between enabling transactions while guarding against fraudulent activity. They are responsible for reducing chargeback rates and false positives, while providing consumers with frictionless and convenient payment experiences.

Fortunately, business owners can leverage innovations built to power the future of trusted digital money with Cybersource. Its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities are helping businesses strike a healthy balance between accepting transactions and preventing fraud.

Cybersource leverages Visa’s AI platform and VisaNet, one of the world’s largest single sources of transaction data,[4] to combine different risk models (rather than a single algorithm) and then apply the most effective model for a particular transaction – all in less than one second.[5] This focused approach helps prevents fraudsters from slipping under the radar of a generic risk algorithm that might be ill-suited to detect a specific exploit or red flag. The process of automated risk scoring both detects frauds and identifies trustworthy customers.

Even better, since these intelligent machines have the ability to learn, they can continuously analyze and process new data to update risk models that reflect the latest real-world trends in digital payments fraud.

It’s difficult for eCommerce companies to keep up with the rapidly evolving fraud landscape. Cybersource can do the job for them, allowing organizations to focus on serving customers and growing revenue while mitigating fraud risks.

Click here to find out why accepting digital payments is now more flexible and secure with Cybersource.

[1]Cybersource/PYMNTS, 2022 Global Digital Shopping Index, February 2022

[2] Cybersource/MRC/Verifi, 2022 Global Fraud and Payments Report, May 2022 Figure 4, p7

[3] Cybersource/MRC/Verifi, 2022 Global Fraud and Payments Report, May 2022

[4] Cybersource, Remove the guesswork with Cybersource’s machine learning

[5] Visa, Just one second: What happens when we pay?