Fraud detection is a never-ending learning process for experts and e-commerce merchants. The moment we figure out a fraudster’s attack pattern, we can slow down his fraud attempts ─ until he realizes his approach no longer works. Then he tries something different and often more complex, and the detection-and-prevention cycle turns again. In addition to stopping millions of different fraud patterns in 2016, ClearSale collected and studied those patterns to understand how they’ll evolve. Based on that knowledge, the ClearSale fraud analytics team expects to see more of these types of emerging and growing fraud in 2017.
Some types of ecommerce fraud recur year after year. First, let’s talk about the old standbys. Certain types of e-commerce fraud may always be with us. They’re usually simple patterns that are easy to detect with the right tools. For example, some criminals launch multiple fraud attempts from a geographic area associated with a fraud victim's name, IP address or post office box.
Reoccurring usernames, like a series of random first names finishing with the same numbers (pete001@gmail.com,monica001@gmail.com) are also strong indicators of fraud. Harder-to-detect but perennially popular fraud patterns exploit websites’ blind spots. For example, if a merchant’s checkout process doesn’t require a CVV validation number for card purchases, fraudsters will eventually find it and flock to it with a list of stolen card numbers for which they don’t have CVV codes.
In 2017, watch for these types of online retail fraud. Most fraud is much more complex than those basic types. Based on our analysis of 2016 trends, we expect more of these newer fraud patterns in the year ahead: [to continue reading please click here].
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