Practical Fraud Prevention

Part II. Ecommerce Fraud Analytics

The preceding chapters covered the wider trends and frameworks we consider relevant to fraud analysts in almost any industry. In many ways, of course, fraudsters are agnostics; the same fraudster or fraud organization may attack more than one industry. Fraudsters do not think in terms of clear categories for our convenience. They look for vulnerabilities everywhere, and they exploit them when they find them.

Fraud analysts who have worked across industries such as retail, banking, and online marketplaces will likely relate to this. Elena Michaeli, who has worked in banking, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, and an online chat platform and is now at Shutterstock, said: “Each industry is different and there’s a lot to learn, but really what struck me most about the fraudsters we were blocking, as I moved between industries, was the similarities I saw. The same sorts of techniques, the same types of attacks. Sometimes even the same fraud rings!”

However, as fraud fighters we need to be sensitive to the differences between industries. Certain attacks tend to be far more common in certain industries, which makes particular identification processes and mitigation strategies more appropriate in those industries.

Part II focuses on attacks that are typically carried out against ecommerce companies. While these attacks are especially relevant to fraud prevention professionals working in ecommerce, some are also relevant to fraud fighters working in the online ...