Posted on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 @ 09:22 AM
New "Ethoca Guide for Partners" shows the near and long term benefits – including how collaborative fraud prevention is helping to make online shopping an experience the public can trust
(PRWEB) July 9, 2010 -- Some of the biggest names in payment processing, fraud prevention, card issuing and identity management are partnering with Ethoca to help lower merchants’ total cost of fraud and make online shopping an experience the public can trust. The new Ethoca Guide for Partners, shows why.
Ethoca360 Signals, ideally suited as a partner solution, evaluates order transaction data elements and finds links, matches and behavioral patterns in the Global Fraud Alliance (GFA) repository that indicate either risk (negative signals) or probable safety (positive signals). These raw data signals complement any fraud prevention services a partner has in place today, because they leverage the pooled GFA member payment experiences to enhance fraud scoring accuracy, reduce false positives, improve manual review productivity and enable better decision making, by providing information about potential fraud risk that can't be obtained any other way.
Ethoca360 Signals can be completely contained and integrated into partner solutions. Other components of the Ethoca360 suite of card-not-present fraud solutions, including Ethoca360 SE/Plus and eCheck should also be considered by prospective partners who lack their own primary fraud prevention services platform.
Partners already on board include leading payment service providers like Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and leading fraud solution providers like 41st Parameter, which is supporting Ethoca’s Ethoca360 Negative Signals service. Another type of partner is GB Group, one of the UK’s leading Identity Management companies. And IMRG, the UK’s e-retail member community, has chosen to offer accredited retailers access to free Negative Signals as part of their ISIS (Internet Shopping is Safe) program.
How partners benefit from collaborative fraud management
“Tapping into a rapidly growing global network of online merchants representing over 500M transaction experiences means higher accuracy of fraud screening and fewer false positives for your merchant clients,” said Ethoca co-founder and CEO Andre Edelbrock. “That's because fraud is agnostic, and more data, from different merchants, industries and geographies improves the ability to detect and predict fraud risk. You also benefit from secure centralized data pooling across PSPs, issuers, fraud and identity solution providers and merchants. Our current partners grasped the value proposition, and now offer their clients access to a premier global anti-fraud service.”
“Ultimately, collaborative fraud prevention helps make online shopping an experience the public can trust, which increases the revenue and profit potential for everyone,” he adds. "The IMRG clearly recognizes this in their selection of Ethoca as a key supplier for ISIS accredited merchants. Consumers cite fear of online fraud as a key barrier to shopping online, and that's a problem that we can solve together.”
Improving CNP fraud detection
Online retailers receive credit card orders when the customer is not present – through their website, by fax, by catalog, or by telephone -- and their efforts to fight fraud can quickly reach a point of diminishing returns.
The Global Fraud Alliance network, powered by Ethoca, enables broad, automated industry collaboration by merchants, payment processors, fraud solution vendors, PSPs and issuing banks. They pool their transaction data into a global repository managed by an independent third party, in full compliance with PCI DSS security standards and the strictest privacy laws and regulations.
When a company partners with Ethoca, data in the GFA repository is one of the factors contributing to end clients’ risk scores. So he or she knows whether a transaction is linked to confirmed fraud or other high risk indicators. By using this data to screen transactions, merchants cut down on:
- Money lost to fraudulent transactions
- Cost of managing the anti-fraud effort
- Cost of lost business when legitimate customers are refused, or asked to wait or prove their identity
That means:
- Customers have a more positive shopping experience
- Fewer rejected good orders (increased revenue)
- Fewer falsely accepted bad orders (decreased fraud losses)
- Lower costs to manage fraud
Screen shots, FAQs, and more in free Guide
The Ethoca Guide for Partners answers questions prospective partners often ask, including:
- How do I get a Signal?
- What do I do with a Signal?
- How is privacy and security of my clients’ data protected?
- Who does Ethoca want as a partner?
- What do I get?
- What are my obligations as an Ethoca partner?
The Guide includes screen shots and tells how partners can get started without investing in integration.
Download the Ethoca Guide for Partners now >>
About Ethoca
Ethoca360 fraud detection services leverage Global Fraud Alliance member data, the world's largest private database of high quality e-commerce transaction data. With Ethoca360 Signals this pooled data resource can be used by merchants and services providers as an enhancement to current anti-fraud measures.
About the Global Fraud Alliance
The Global Fraud Alliance, powered by Ethoca, enables broad, automated industry collaboration by merchants, payment processors, fraud solution vendors, issuers and banks. Its rapidly growing database contains 600 million merchant and payment provider contributed records containing rich transaction information and outcomes across various payment types. Data can be linked by any attribute, offering a 360 degree view of behavioral patterns online that help identify both good and bad orders and customers.
Posted on Thu, Jul 01, 2010 @ 06:00 AM
July 1, 2010 -- Ethoca Limited, provider of Ethoca360 fraud detection services and the unique collaboration engine that powers the Global Fraud Alliance, has initiated QuickStart, a simple way for merchants to quickly start using Ethoca360's Signals service with reduced development effort.
Ethoca360 Signals evaluates ecommerce transaction risk factors that indicate potential for fraud and displays the results as a set of intuitively color-coded 'Signals'.
Signals are created by breaking down a transaction or account application into raw data elements to compare them against a global repository of payment experiences contributed by members of the Global Fraud Alliance.
When matches are found among the more than 500 million records in the GFA database, rules are triggered that create red, yellow or green signals which indicate high risk (probable fraud), medium risk (investigate further), or very low risk (accept order).
QuickStart offers a faster, more convenient way for merchants to connect to Ethoca360 Signals in real time, bypassing the development work necessary to implement Ethoca's direct API.
There are two key pieces to QuickStart: Signal Request, and Signal Response.
Instead of the merchant subscribing to Ethoca's API, Ethoca subscribes to the APIs already used by the merchant to send data to their payment or fraud service provider. Ethoca evaluates whatever elements are contained in this request and generates Signals based on the matches it finds in the GFA database.
Ethoca passes the Signals back to the merchant in the form of a push-based email and/or portal-based alerts. It requires no changes or addition to the merchant's existing tools.
Although in the longer term, merchants may desire to connect to Ethoca's API to pass and receive more information and benefit from the full range of Signals available, QuickStart eliminates the wait time to schedule IT development resources, and enables access to the benefits of Ethoca's real-time service in days, rather than weeks or months, at no additional cost to the merchant.
QuickStart is also available for use by payment and fraud service providers.
QuickStart is available for either the full Ethoca360 Signals product, or the free version, Ethoca360 Negative Signals, which does not match against the positive data.
Ethoca360 Signals is designed to be an additive service, compatible with all other fraud tools and processes in use, enabling improved productivity and accuracy of fraud decisioning no matter how you do fraud-screening today. QuickStart speeds implementation, eliminating most of the effort and cost to get started right away by requiring virtually no changes to existing systems or processes.
About Ethoca
With offices in Dublin, Toronto, and New York, Ethoca provides anti-fraud services to businesses taking orders by credit card, eCheck and other forms of payments online, by fax, through catalogs and by telephone. Ethoca pioneered and mastered the concept of collaborative fraud management to fight online payment fraud. Learn more at ethoca.com.
Posted on Mon, May 17, 2010 @ 05:22 PM
Designed to maximize sales and minimize fraud, Ethoca’s eCheck Fraud Solution reduces the risk usually associated with accepting direct electronic payment from checking accounts
(PRWEB) May 17, 2010 -- Ethoca Limited, provider of Ethoca360 fraud detection services and the unique collaboration engine that powers the Global Fraud Alliance, has released Ethoca360 eCheck Fraud Solution, a service online retailers use to safely accept direct electronic payments from customers’ checking accounts while preventing Check21 and ACH fraud. Merchants can download a free eCheck Fraud Solution product sheet at http://www.ethoca.com/echeck-product-sheet/
“Impulse services and high-value goods can be very lucrative for online merchants, but you don't want a small number of bad apples to cost you all your profits, and it's very hard to tell the fraudsters from the legitimate customers,” said Andre Edelbrock, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Ethoca. “In businesses where a service is rendered immediately upon payment, for example, you can't get back the cost of the service if the account drawn from was being used fraudulently, doesn’t exist, or has insufficient funds. The same is true if the buyer is the holder of the account, but never intended to honor the purchase agreement, and stops payment or claims they didn't receive the product or service.”
E-commerce websites benefit from offering to accept electronic payments that rely on ACH and Check21. Fearing identity theft or card fraud -- or simply as a means of keeping track of what they spend – many online shoppers prefer to pay by check even if they have a credit card. In fact, according to NACHA-The Electronic Payments Association:
- 89% of US adults have a checking account
- 45% of credit card holders are within 5% of limit
- 80% of non-cash payment is made by check
- 10 million households without credit cards are online
The Global Fraud Alliance network, powered by Ethoca, enables broad, automated industry collaboration by merchants, payment processors, fraud solution vendors, issuers and banks. With eCheck, data in the GFA repository is one of the factors contributing to the merchant’s risk score. So he or she knows whether a transaction is linked to confirmed fraud or other high risk indicators.
Many factors go into the real-time decision. One of the most important is uniquely available from Ethoca: knowledge gleaned from the Global Fraud Alliance (GFA) repository of historical credit card, eCheck and alternative payment experiences and outcomes. Over 500 million merchant and payment provider contributed records containing rich transaction information and outcomes across various payment types are in this rapidly growing database. Data can be linked by any attribute, offering a 360 degree view of behavioral patterns online that help identify both good and bad orders and customers.
To generate a merchant’s risk score and/or order recommendation for the eCheck transaction, this data is cross-matched and combined with several other factors including, but not limited to:
- Blacklists – links to comprised data, blacklisted by merchants or payment providers
- Bank account standing - open, closed, in good standing, return history, business account
- Negative check databases - check past returns and related information
- Authentication risk - identity information matched with leading identity databases
- Velocities - dramatic or suspicious changes in usage patterns
- Data inconsistencies - flags suspicious information based on historical experiences
- Geo-location - high risk source IP address, inconsistencies with IP, bank location and address
- Regulatory - flags individuals on Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) or Blocked Persons (e.g., OFAC) lists
Most online retailers accept multiple payment types. Ethoca provides a suite of industry-leading fraud prevention services for card-not-present transactions. The Ethoca360 Fraud Detection family of services includes:
According to the website NACHA.org, ACH payment volume continues to double every five years. A recent Federal Reserve Payments Study revealed ACH payments had the largest compound annual growth rate (18.6 percent) of all U.S. non-cash payments.
About Ethoca
With offices in Dublin, Toronto, and New York, Ethoca provides anti-fraud services to businesses taking credit card orders online, by fax, through catalogs and by telephone. Ethoca pioneered and mastered the concept of collaborative fraud management to fight online payment fraud. Learn more at ethoca.com.
Posted on Tue, May 04, 2010 @ 08:18 AM
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Keegan Johnson, president and co-founder of Ethoca, is also the founding president and chairman of the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research Canada and VP of FPWR USA.
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Proceeds will fund more research into Prader-Willi Syndrome
Toronto, May 4, 2010 -- Ethoca Limited, providers of Ethoca360 card-not-present (CNP) fraud detection services, is one of the sponsors of the One Small Step Gala, a fund-raising event to help the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research Canada. The May 14 semi-formal event will be held at the Terrace Banquet Centre, 1680 Creditstone Road, Vaughn, Ontario.
Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a common genetic cause of childhood obesity.
“Some treatments have been found to treat Prader-Willi Syndrome, but there still is no cure. The gala is one way we can help expand research that will ultimately lead to a solution,” said Ethoca CEO Andre Edelbrock, who also serves on the foundation’s board. “Supporting the gala is also one of the ways Ethoca supports its own staff in their community involvement and activities.”
Keegan Johnson, president and co-founder of Ethoca, is also the founding president and chairman of the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research Canada (www.fpwr.ca) and the Vice President of the FPWR USA.
Use of human growth hormone has proved helpful for some effects of PWS, such as increasing height, decreasing body fat, increasing muscle mass, improving weight distribution, increasing stamina, and increasing bone mineral density. But there are still no treatments for other symptoms, including regulation of appetite. Controlling food intake is a major obstacle that stops people with PWS from living independently.
Prader-Willi Syndrome affects over 30,000 people in North America, affects males and females with equal frequency, and affects all races and ethnicities. It was first described by Swiss doctors Andrea Prader, Alexis Labhart and Heinrich Willi in 1956.
Tickets to the gala cost $110. For more information, or to donate in lieu of attending, contact event chair Michelle Cordeiro at Michelle.cordeiro@fpwr.ca of at 1-866-99-FPWRC x252.
About the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research Canada (www.fpwr.ca)
The Foundation for Prader-Willi Research Canada was established in 2003 by parents of children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) with a mission to eliminate the challenges of Prader-Willi Syndrome through the advancement of research. Today, FPWR Canada is composed of parents, family members, researchers, and others who are interested in addressing the many issues related to PWS, including childhood obesity and autism spectrum disorders. The foundation can be reached at 19-13085 Yonge Street, Suite #370, Richmond Hill, ON L4E 0K2.
About Ethoca
With offices in Dublin, Toronto, and New York, Ethoca provides anti-fraud services to businesses taking credit card orders online, by fax, through catalogs and by telephone. Ethoca pioneered and mastered the concept of collaborative fraud management to fight online credit card fraud.
Posted on Wed, Apr 21, 2010 @ 07:35 AM
Ethoca360 Negative Signals Service Available to GB Group Customers
(LONDON, UK – APRIL 21, 2010) – Ethoca Limited, providers of Ethoca360 card-not-present (CNP) fraud detection services, has announced a partnership with the UK’s leading Identity Management company, GB Group. The partnership will mean that Ethoca’s new Ethoca360 Negative Signals service will be available to all GB Group customers through their URU identity verification service.
The new Ethoca360 Negative Signals service has recently been made available for free and is the first and only one of its kind. For merchants who sign up now and until further notice, Ethoca has committed to keeping the Negative Signals version of Ethoca360 Signals free forever. Although a commercial grade service, Ethoca decided to make it freely available to all online merchants in an effort to accelerate market adoption, build broader industry collaboration and help stem the massive losses that are suffered to online fraud each year.
Ethoca360 Negative Signals is available now as an integrated service within GB Group’s URU identity verification service, bringing the power of the Ethoca community to earliest stage in the customer lifecycle. URU™ provides unique data matching capabilities that authenticate a consumer’s identity and age by matching personal information against reference data in the UK (and across the globe) in real time.
“Integrating Negative Signals fraud screening into our URU™ identity verification service allows our customers to make more informed decisions about card-not-present transactions during the all-important account signup process,” said John Lord, Managing Director, GB Group. “Our customers are increasingly concerned about online and identity fraud, and it is crucial for GB Group to remain up-to-date with the latest technologies and services. We are delighted to partner with Ethoca as its Negative Signals service is the first of its kind to be made available at no charge to help fight fraud.“
GB Group’s URU identity verification service enables an individual’s details to be verified against a multitude of data sets before a decision is made on how best to engage with that individual. By bringing Ethoca360 Negative Signals into the equation, any decision made by a merchant can also be measured according to the potential risk of that transaction.
“Negative Signals is an additive service, and as such it is an ideal fit for the complementary identity verification tools and methodologies offered by GB Group,” explained Andre Edelbrock, CEO, Ethoca. “We are looking forward to a long and fruitful partnership with GB Group as we protect our customers against fraud and the associated revenue losses, whilst allowing them to concentrate on enhancing their own customers’ experience.”
More information can be found, and applications for this free service are now being accepted at http://www.ethoca.com/negative-signals/
About Ethoca
With offices in Dublin, Toronto, and New York, Ethoca provides anti-fraud services to businesses taking credit card orders online, by fax, through catalogs and by telephone. Ethoca pioneered and mastered the concept of collaborative fraud management to fight online credit card fraud.
For further information about Ethoca, please contact:
James Kennedy, AxiCom
Email: james.kennedy@axicom.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 8392 4091
About GB Group plc
GB is the UK’s leading Identity Management business. It helps organisations recognise and verify all elements of an individual’s identity at every interaction. Through the application of our proprietary technology, we enable organisations to connect, communicate and transact with people safely, responsibly and profitably. In doing so, we help businesses like O2, Laura Ashley, HBoS, LloydsTSB, ASOS.com, Virgin Games, PartyGaming, Betfair and Ladbrokes understand their customers better to create more meaningful customer interactions – and reduce costs across the business.
GB is listed on the London Stock Exchange (GBG). For more information, please visit GB Group’s website: www.gb.co.uk.
GB Group - because identity matters™
For further information about GB’s global Identity Management applications, please contact:
Email: marketing@gb.co.uk
Number: 01244 657333
Adrie Wessels, Bite Communications
Email: adrie.wessels@bitecommunications.com
Number: 020 8834 3474
Posted on Tue, Apr 20, 2010 @ 07:19 AM
Leading Fraud Prevention Companies Join Forces to Stop Fraud Before It Happens
LONDON, England and SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (PRWEB) April 20, 2010 -- Ethoca Limited and 41st Parameter Inc., two leaders in the fraud detection and prevention space, have announced that 41st Parameter supports Ethoca’s recently-announced free Ethoca360 Negative Signals service.
Merchants use Negative Signals to check orders in real-time against the Global Fraud Alliance (GFA) repository – a rapidly growing database of over 500 million transactions compiled by Alliance members. The check can reveal a history of suspicious behaviors, chargebacks, fraud, or data inconsistencies linked to a current order. This information helps the merchant assess risk and lower their fraud losses.
FraudNet is 41st Parameter’s fraud screening platform for online properties that prevents fraud across a wide range of online activities, including account enrollment, authentication and Internet transactions. FraudNet combs through data available in transactions, augmented with signals from its leading DeviceInsight device intelligence technology, for signs of intentional deception and flags potentially fraudulent transactions for further investigation. With powerful link analysis tools built into FraudNet, investigators can rapidly assess the transaction and decide whether the risk of fulfilling the order outweighs the potential profit.
“We are pleased that Ethoca is offering Ethoca360 Negative Signals without cost,” said Ori Eisen, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at 41st Parameter, “and we are delighted to support this through FraudNet. When a transaction is flagged for review, it is valuable to know that one transaction you are screening is linked to another that is fraudulent or has caused another merchant harm. By eliminating the cost barrier to adoption, Ethoca has ensured that it will be widely used, multiplying its value to online merchants and the fraud-fighting community.”
"41st Parameter's FraudNet is an excellent fraud prevention platform used by many large online merchants, airlines and financial institutions," said Andre Edelbrock, CEO, Ethoca. "We're excited to have our technology made available through this highly respected platform. Ethoca360 Signals is designed to help fraud managers make more accurate decisions faster, by identifying risky transactions based on past consumer behavior linked to the current transaction. The more you know, the less you have to guess, and we know that the goal of all FraudNet users is to prevent the most fraud while letting valid transactions pass through quickly, and minimizing costs and manual review. Our solutions combine well to achieve that goal for the retail community."
Credit card fraud a growing problem
Online merchants and others taking orders by phone, fax, or catalog, have a much more difficult task protecting their business against credit card fraud than traditional merchants who deal face-to-face with the customer.
"Card-not-present" fraud is no longer a cottage industry. E-commerce fraud alone totaled over $4 billion in the United States in 2009, a year of weak retail sales. With fraudsters learning how to do an end-run around some existing tools, a new generation of fraud technology has been needed. Ethoca now offers some of that technology for free to all online merchants in an effort to build broader industry collaboration.
Ethoca360 Negative SignalsEthoca360 Signals uses intuitive color-coded warning signals to identify patterns that indicate either fraud risk or a probable good order. The signals indicating fraud risk are called Negative Signals, while good transaction histories create Positive Signals. Merchants can check just one order at a time or whole batches of orders, all in real time.
Ethoca's new service, which makes the
Negative Signals available for free, is the first and only one of its kind. For merchants who sign up now and until further notice, Ethoca has committed to keeping the negative signals version of
Ethoca360 Signals free forever.
Ethoca360 Signals
Merchants desiring richer information can upgrade to the full version of Ethoca360 Signals, which provides positive context that can speed and automate a higher degree of fraud screening than Negative Signals alone.
With Positive Signals, merchants get a more comprehensive risk analysis of your transaction, and the ability to positively confirm good customers and low-risk orders. They can also see more sophisticated patterns, such as "deep linking" fraud, where current transactions are linked through seemingly good orders that haven't been charged back yet, but connect to historical fraudulent orders -- a pattern visible only if one has both positive and negative data.
Ethoca and 41st Parameter have been fighting fraud in a strategic alliance since 2008.
About 41st Parameter
41st Parameter provides solutions for detecting and preventing fraud across multiple channels for the world’s most valued and recognizable brands. Leading financial institutions, e-commerce companies, and travel services businesses rely on 41st Parameter’s technology to protect them from cybercrime threats including card not present fraud, new account origination fraud, phishing and account compromise, credit bust outs, and fraud ring attacks. Founded in 2004, 41st Parameter makes the process of detecting and preventing fraud easier and more effective, reducing both expenses and potential losses. As a leading web fraud detection innovator the company supplies industry-proven solutions that integrate advanced device identification with comprehensive risk management capabilities. To learn more about 41st Parameter, visit the41st.com.
About Ethoca
Ethoca360 Signals and Negative Signals is a fraud detection service that works with any fraud-screening tool, process or methodology. With offices in Dublin, Toronto, and New York, Ethoca provides anti-fraud services to businesses taking credit card orders online, by fax, through catalogs and by telephone. Ethoca pioneered and mastered the concept of collaborative fraud management to fight online credit card fraud. Learn more at ethoca.com.
Posted on Tue, Apr 20, 2010 @ 06:24 AM
Use of the ISIS Mark confirms identity and will indicate to those with whom retailers are conducting business that they are using ISIS's standards
(RETAIL FRAUD CONFERENCE, LONDON, UK – APRIL 20, 2010) – Ethoca Limited, provider of Ethoca360 fraud detection services, today announced that IMRG, the UK’s e-retail member community, has chosen to offer accredited retailers its free “Negative Signals” service as part of the ISIS program. ISIS (Internet Shopping Is Safe) is an initiative set up by the IMRG to promote consumer confidence in online shopping. ISIS-Accredited retailers now account for approximately two thirds of all UK online shopping outlets.
Consumers cite a lack of retailer-awareness and fear of online fraud as key barriers to not shopping online. Whilst the established online traders and high street retailers have solid brand exposure to comfort the customer, smaller e-Retailer's often do not. Use of the ISIS Mark confirms identity and will indicate to those with whom retailers are conducting business that they are using ISIS's standards. Both large and small retailers suffer from lost sales due to fear of fraud however, making Ethoca's free Negative Signals service an important contribution to the ISIS program.
Ethoca360 Signals is a fraud detection service that checks transactions in real-time against the Global Fraud Alliance (GFA) repository – a rapidly growing database of over 500 million historical transaction experiences compiled collaboratively by Alliance members – and identifies matches and patterns that indicate either fraud risk or a probable good order through intuitive colour-coded "Warning Signals". Warning Signals that indicate fraud risk are referred to as "Negative Signals", while good transaction histories create "Positive Signals".
Through ISIS, the IMRG now offers Ethoca's new service which makes the "Negative Signals" from Ethoca360 Signals available for free to participating members. The Retailer Resource Centre collates a variety of high value advice and services to members wishing to bolster their fraud prevention measures, develop their customer proposition, enhance their business continuity plans and promote confidence in online shopping.
“Negative Signals” is designed to be an additive service, complementary to all existing fraud screening tools, processes and methodologies. Merchants may use it to augment automated fraud scoring either through direct integration by their payment or fraud service provider, via custom rules they can add themselves, or as decision support when manually reviewing orders. Offering single order, batch checking and real-time capabilities, Ethoca’s free negative signals service is an exciting innovation for online fraud management, as there has never before been a quality resource of this nature available to merchants at no charge to help fight fraud.
“The IMRG and Ethoca have worked in partnership for a number of years now and so we’re delighted to extend that relationship under the ISIS program. Because of the strong efforts of the IMRG and its ISIS accreditation scheme, customers purchasing goods and services branded under the ISIS Mark can do so with confidence, knowing that merchants have passed an accreditation process and are committed to continuously improving the safety of online shopping through services such as Ethoca's free Negative Signals product,” said Andre Edelbrock, CEO, Ethoca. “The Retail Fraud Conference seems the perfect occasion to announce this availability as the industry’s biggest players get together in the spirit of collaboration with the end-user retail community.”
”We're tremendously excited to be able to offer the free "Negative Signals" service to ISIS accredited merchants through our Retailer Resource Centre", said Andrew McClelland, Director of Business Development at IMRG & ISIS. "Nearly half of all consumers who do not yet shop online cite fear of fraud as a primary reason, so this is a vital free service to offer our accredited members. Not only does it help deter fraud, which is an important cost-saving, but improves the perception that merchants are doing all they can to make online shopping the safest of all retail channels. If all ISIS-accredited retailers were to take advantage of this free service, it would contribute to a significant reduction in fraud and bolster overall consumer confidence and perception of safety of the online channel. The strength of this development is that the Ethoca solution compliments other counter fraud tools, thereby adding another line of defence to a retailers’ arsenal and making e-Retail a much less attractive target."
Andre Edelbrock, CEO, Ethoca and Keegan Johnson, President, Ethoca will be hosting a free session for conference attendees within the MasterClass agenda entitled “How to Reduce Card-Not-Present Fraud and Safely Accept More Online Orders Through Collaboration” – 9.45am-10.30am, Tuesday 20th April 2010 in the MasterClass Theatre. For more information visit: http://www.retail-knowledge.com/RF2010/agenda.html
More information can be found, and applications for this free service are now being accepted at http://www.ethoca.com/negative-signals/
About Ethoca
With offices in Dublin, Toronto, and New York, Ethoca provides anti-fraud services to businesses taking credit card orders online, by fax, through catalogs and by telephone. Ethoca pioneered and mastered the concept of collaborative fraud management to fight online credit card fraud. Learn more at http://www.ethoca.com.
Posted on Tue, Apr 20, 2010 @ 05:16 AM
Negative Signals service screens card-not-present transactions to establish whether there are matches indicating chargebacks, high transaction velocity or other unwanted negative activities linked to pending orders
(RETAIL FRAUD SHOW, LONDON, UK – APRIL 20, 2010) – Ethoca Limited, providers of Ethoca360 card-not-present (CNP) fraud detection services, has announced today at Retail Fraud Conference 2010 that it has switched on Ethoca360 Negative Signals, its new and innovative free service based on its flagship Ethoca360 Signals technology. This means that users all around the world will see immediately which orders match negative data that is held in the Global Fraud Alliance repository, improving the accuracy of their fraud screening processes regardless of tools used today.
The new Negative Signals service is available for free and is the first and only one of its kind. Although a commercial grade service, Ethoca decided to make it freely available to all online merchants in an effort to accelerate market adoption, build broader industry collaboration and help stem the massive losses that are suffered to online fraud each year. For merchants who sign up now and until further notice, Ethoca has committed to keeping the Negative Signals version of Ethoca360 Signals free forever.
The Negative Signals service screens card-not-present transactions to establish whether there are matches indicating chargebacks, high transaction velocity or other unwanted negative activities linked to pending orders. It is designed to be an additive service, complementary to all existing fraud screening tools and methodologies. Merchants may use it to augment automated fraud scoring either through direct integration by their fraud service provider or via custom rules they can add themselves, or as decision support when manually reviewing orders. Offering single order, batch checking and real-time capabilities, Ethoca’s free Negative Signals service is an exciting innovation for online fraud management, as there has never before been a quality resource of this nature available to merchants at no charge to help fight fraud.
“We are delighted to announce at the Retail Fraud Conference 2010 that Ethoca360 Negative Signals, our new free fraud-detection service, has now been switched on for all our users,” explained Andre Edelbrock, CEO and Co-founder, Ethoca. “Our goal in making this negative service free to merchants selling in a card-not-present environment is to point the spotlight on high-risk transactions that would otherwise have been missed. By rolling out this service we are all a step closer to making fraud a problem of the past.”
Andre Edelbrock, CEO, Ethoca and Keegan Johnson, President, Ethoca will be hosting a free session for conference attendees within the MasterClass agenda entitled “How to Reduce Card-Not-Present Fraud and Safely Accept More Online Orders Through Collaboration” – 9.45am-10.30am, Tuesday 20th April 2010 in the MasterClass Theatre. For more information visit: http://www.retail-knowledge.com/RF2010/agenda.html
More information can be found, and applications for this free service are now being accepted at http://www.ethoca.com/negative-signals/
About Ethoca
With offices in Dublin, Toronto, and New York, Ethoca provides anti-fraud services to businesses taking credit card orders online, by fax, through catalogs and by telephone. Ethoca pioneered and mastered the concept of collaborative fraud management to fight online credit card fraud. Learn more here.
Posted on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 @ 05:00 AM
Free negative signals service can identify a history of chargebacks, fraud, data inconsistencies linked to the current order and other unwanted behaviors. It is built to augment merchants’ existing fraud management practices, adding information that can't be obtained anywhere else to payment processing and fraud screening processes.
Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) March 16, 2010 -- Ethoca Limited, provider of Ethoca360 fraud detection services, has announced that it is now accepting applications for a new and innovative free service based on its flagship Ethoca360 Signals technology, targeted at helping online merchants prevent chargebacks and card-not-present (CNP) fraud.
The Free Ethoca360 Negative Signals Service is designed to check your card-not-present transactions and tell you whether there are matches indicating chargebacks or other unwanted negative activities linked to your pending order.
The Free Ethoca360 Negative Signals Service is designed to check your card-not-present transactions and tell you whether there are matches indicating chargebacks or other unwanted negative activities linked to your pending order.
Ethoca360 Signals is a fraud detection service that checks transactions in real-time against the Global Fraud Alliance (GFA) repository – a rapidly growing database of over 500 million historical transaction experiences compiled collaboratively by Alliance members – and identifies matches and patterns that indicate either fraud risk or a probable good order through intuitive color-coded "Warning Signals". Warning Signals that indicate fraud risk are referred to as "negative signals", while good transaction histories create "positive signals".
Ethoca's new service, which makes the "negative signals" from Ethoca360 Signals available for free, is the first and only one of its kind. Although a commercial grade service, Ethoca decided to make it freely available to all online merchants in an effort to build broader industry collaboration and to stem the losses that are suffered to online fraud each year. For merchants who sign up now and until further notice, Ethoca has committed to keeping the negative signals version of Ethoca360 Signals free forever. The free service is scheduled to rollout in April 2010.
The free negative signals service can identify a history of chargebacks, fraud, data inconsistencies linked to the current order and other unwanted behaviors. It is built to augment merchants’ existing fraud management practices, adding information to their payment processing and fraud screening process that can't be obtained anywhere else. Negative signals information can be incorporated directly into merchants' fraud scoring, or used as decision support when manually reviewing orders. Offering single order, batch checking and real-time capabilities, Ethoca’s free negative signals service is an exciting innovation for online fraud management, as there has never before been a quality resource of this nature available to merchants at no charge to help fight fraud.
Online merchants and others taking orders by phone, fax, or catalog, have a much more difficult task protecting their business against credit card fraud than traditional merchants who sell goods and services face-to-face with the customer. The difficulty arises because the customer is not present to confirm their identity or that he/she is even in possession of the credit card being used – hence the term "card-not-present" fraud. E-commerce fraud, alone, totaled over $4 billion in the United States in 2009, in a year when retail sales were tepid.
"Ethoca was founded on one simple fact, that knowing more about your customers enables better fraud prevention and that only through collaboration can merchants get a 360-degree picture of what they are dealing with," said Ethoca CEO and co-founder Andre Edelbrock. “Our goal in making this negative service free to merchants selling in a card-not-present environment is to help all of them spot high-risk transactions that would otherwise have been missed. For example, does a credit card, name, or email address have a history of chargebacks, blacklist entries, rejections, or other negative data? Users will see immediately which orders match any negative data in the GFA database. By collaborating on a global scale, online merchants have the ability to make fraud a problem of the past, and by making our Negative Signals service available for free, we are one step closer to making that happen.”
"Joining together with the Global Fraud Alliance is one of the most important things we can do to help us make better order-processing decisions,” said Gilbert Fiorentino, chief executive officer of TigerDirect. “What we love about the Ethoca network is if you're a multi-billion dollar company like we are, and you have huge resources to spend fighting credit card fraud, or if you're a small company with 20 or 30 employees, we all get the same benefit from sharing data with each other. If everybody joined the Ethoca network," Fiorentino continued "we could literally stamp out credit card fraud."
Merchants desiring richer information that can speed and automate a higher degree of fraud screening are able to upgrade to the full version of Ethoca360 Signals which provides positive context in addition to the negative signals. With positive signals, you both get a more comprehensive risk analysis of your transaction, and the ability to positively confirm good customers and low risk orders. You also see more sophisticated patterns, such as "deep linking" fraud where current transactions are linked through seemingly good orders that haven't been charged back yet, but connect to historical fraudulent orders -- a pattern which is only visible if you have positive and negative data.
Although Ethoca has enabled a clear upgrade path to the full Ethoca360 Signals product, merchants need not do so if they are happy with the negative signals service. The negative signals version of Ethoca360 Signals is a fully functional service, and it will always be available for free to merchants who apply now.
More information can be found, and applications for this free service are now being accepted at http://www.ethoca.com/negative-signals/
About Ethoca
With offices in Dublin, Toronto, and New York, Ethoca provides anti-fraud services to businesses taking credit card orders online, by fax, through catalogs and by telephone. Ethoca pioneered and mastered the concept of collaborative fraud management to fight online credit card fraud. Learn more here.
Posted on Fri, Mar 12, 2010 @ 05:00 AM
Provides simple, intuitive decision support analytics for manual reviews and boosts predictive accuracy of primary fraud screening tools
New York, NY (PRWEB) March 12, 2010 -- Ethoca Limited, provider of Ethoca360 fraud detection services and the unique collaboration engine that powers the Global Fraud Alliance, has released Ethoca360 Signals, a decision support tool for card-not-present fraud screening.
Ethoca360 Signals delivers collaborative value from the Global Fraud Alliance (GFA) data pool of over 500 million transaction experiences. It significantly improves the fraud screening efforts of merchants operating in a card-not-present environment through real-time assessment of a buyer's reputation based on the aggregate experiences of merchants across shopping sites and across industries, as well as global insight about international orders.
Ethoca360 Signals arms you with data you can't get any other way -- a rapidly growing repository of over 500 million consortium-pooled real-time e-commerce transactions.
“Ethoca360 Signals is easy-to-use, intuitive and powerful. It arms you with data you can't get any other way, beefing up the predictive accuracy of your primary fraud screening tools and methodology,” said Ethoca chief executive officer and co-founder Andre Edelbrock. “Secondly, it offers simple, intuitive decision support analytics for manual reviews, enabling you to make better decisions faster when your primary screening can't clearly tell you to accept or reject an order.”
The cost is low – ranging from a fraction of a cent to only a few cents per transaction.
Typically, when merchants screen online orders for possible fraud, their predictive analytics (scoring) tools run numerous rules against the transaction looking for known patterns of risk. The best tools and methodologies also look at a merchant’s own experiences -- scanning historical data -- to determine whether you've had problems with this person, or have a history of successful repeat orders with no chargebacks or other issues.
“It just makes good common sense to evaluate previous consumer behavior and your own experiences as part of your risk decision,” said Edelbrock. “And this offers tremendous value in expediting the order process. The problem is that you only know about the customer's previous dealings with you, and if they are a first time visitor to your site, you have no prior experience to support your decision.”
Collaborating merchants get a 360 degree view of the customer's payment reputation, including:
- Order velocity across merchants, industries or even countries
- Data inconsistencies and anomalies
- Deep linking across a "hop scotch" of data attributes
- Direct transaction matching
All this information, both positive and negative, is rolled up into Warning Signals -- behavioral analytics -- that significantly enhances a merchant’s awareness of who they are dealing with.
Merchants that already have a fraud score, benefit especially. The reason is that a score may be a single number, but it is calculated from a variety of raw data: names, addresses, card numbers, frequency of use, and more. When the rules that create a merchant’s score fire, it could be that only one or two elements are enough to turn a good score into an ambiguous score -- a potential fraudster.
“The real-time Warning Signals help you quickly see where risk is,” said Edelbrock. “You get a simple, red, green or yellow signal for each key element.”
Ethoca360 Signals takes merchants’ transaction data and breaks down the risk associated with key elements by cross-checking merchants’ orders against the GFA database. It reveals patterns including inconsistency, velocity, negative or positive history all in real-time, and the color-coding shows you in an instant whether there is risk and why. On the other hand, if a customer has a long solid record of positive payment outcomes, that's plainly evident too.
Warning Signals communicate risk instantly, providing the decision support necessary to make manual reviews more productive.
Ethoca360 Signals offers opportunity to bolster 3rd party fraud scoring tools, whether from dedicated anti-fraud vendors or payment services providers, improving the accuracy, certainty and confidence in the result. This is because the high quality signal information can be captured and baked into a score as a strong influencing factor, tipping the decision towards Acceptance or Rejection depending on what the behavioral analysis indicates.
For example, if you are willing to accept any order above a certain score where all Warning Signals are green, then simply write a rule that automates that decision, and remove that order from the review queue. Similarly, if some combination of Red and Yellow Signals on email address and credit card is enough to always say no, write a rule that automates that decision by reducing the score. Payment processors offering their own fraud screening tools can significantly improve their competitive market position both through adding this information to their proprietary scoring, and by offering GFA membership and access to Signals data to their clients.
The result, either way, is higher productivity and better decisions, because fewer orders are out-sorted for manual review, and for the remainder, you have the extra information needed to make faster and more accurate decisions.
About Ethoca
With offices in Dublin, Toronto, and New York, Ethoca provides anti-fraud services to businesses taking credit card orders online, by fax, through catalogs and by telephone. Ethoca pioneered and mastered the concept of collaborative fraud management to fight online credit card fraud. Learn more at http://www.ethoca.com.
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