Signifyd Education
Fraud 101: Complete Guide for the Online Merchant

What is online fraud? How and why does online fraud take place?
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Fraud is a fact of life for those doing business online. Every ecommerce company encounters fraud at some point. It’s often when that first merchant chargeback arrives that merchants become fully aware of the fraud risks specific to ecommerce. As massive data breaches become more common, the identities and credit accounts that fraudsters and fraud…

Why is my business experiencing fraud?
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It’s one of life’s ironies. You work hard to make your online business more visible and just when you’re getting some traction — the fraudsters appear. The combination of advertising campaigns, a rising search engine ranking, and the youth of a store (and perceived inexperience with detecting fraud), make an online merchant an ideal target…

Chargebacks: A history
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What is a chargeback? Types of chargebacks Ramifications for merchants What is a chargeback? In the U.S., a cardholder has the right to request a refund from their issuing bank for any transaction or purchase made with their credit card. Specifically, under Regulation Z within The Truth in Lending Act, which covers credit cards, and Regulation E…

Chargeback process: An in-depth look
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Navigating the chargeback for goods not received process is a painful undertaking for any merchant. When a customer disputes an order and files a chargeback, the merchant has an opportunity to contest that dispute. In order to dispute a chargeback and ultimately win, a merchant needs to participate in a series of defined steps created…

Why is an ecommerce merchant liable for credit fraud?
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When a merchant starts accepting online orders, they’ve officially entered the card not present world. To a consumer, the decision between purchasing online or in-store is simply a calculation of convenience, price and availability. To a merchant however, a purchase online versus in-store are two very different scenarios, especially when it concerns liability for accepting a fraudulent…

How to review an order
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Any fraud analyst will be quick to note that fraud review and detection is as much an art as it is a science. Order review, the most basic facet of an analyst’s role, is often a multistage process. It is performed in tandem with tools like machine learning algorithms, and complemented by the analyst’s own…

What is an AVS check? How verification works and what a match means for merchants
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One of the most widely used fraud prevention tools in card-not-present transactions is the Address Verification Service, or AVS. Originally developed for use with mail and catalog orders, AVS is now commonly used by e-tailers, and other card-not-present merchants, as a method to verify the validity of an order they receive. An AVS check compares the billing…

Billing address and shipping address mismatch
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Billing address vs shipping address – the age-old dilemma. A common data point that merchants should examine before accepting or declining a purchase is a billing and shipping mismatch. The reason may be simple (the order is a gift) or could point to something more (the credit card number is stolen). When an order arrives…

What is friendly fraud? Key signs and mitigating the effects of consumer abuse
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The primary goal for risk analysts is to detect and prevent fraudulent online transactions from being fulfilled. In order to do that, an analyst needs to discover whether the order was placed by the authorized cardholder or a fraudster who’s using the legitimate cardholder’s information. Seems straightforward, right? The vast majority of the orders that…

A comprehensive guide to fraud detection for merchants
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Navigating the minefield of ecommerce and online transactions can often feel like playing a game of Whac-a-Mole. Just as you think you’ve sorted out one problem, another pops up. One challenge that never fails to resurface, however, is the specter of fraud. Drafted by GPT-3.5, rewritten, reviewed and approved by Signifyd humans As merchants scale…

A merchant’s complete guide to chargeback fraud
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With this article, we hope to provide insights into chargeback fraud, and empower you to safeguard your business's finances and reputation. By decoding the complexities of chargeback fraud, you'll be better equipped to challenge fraudulent disputes, fortify your prevention strategies, and maintain healthier relationships with banks and payment processors.