Visa US and CyberSource have introduced CyberSource Advanced Fraud
Screen enhanced by Visa, a system combining fraud trends and
individual card-usage statistics to provide e-tailers with fraud
risk assessments for each pending transaction.
This information will enable merchants to identify and stop
transactions that are most likely to be fraudulent, said Jeff King,
director of risk product management at CyberSource.
When an online customer clicks the "buy" button, transaction
information provided by the buyer, including shipping, billing and
e-mail addresses, as well as the phone number and other data, is
sent to CyberSource. CyberSource runs that information, along with
the IP (Internet Protocol) address, location of the Internet
connection being used and 150 other data points, through the
Advanced Fraud Screen system.
Those checks include a real-time call to Visa to determine if there
is any risky or unusual behaviour associated with the credit card
number being used. The call to Visa's computers allows the
CyberSource system to view up-to-the-minute data on the card in
question. The merchant is then given a risk score of 0-99 and can
choose to accept or deny the transaction.
Online credit card fraud is now more sophisticated and high-tech
than offline credit card fraud or even online fraud from a few
years ago, said King.
The desire for security and fraud prevention in this new
environment might lead merchants to tighter policies, but those
could lead to more transaction denials. As such, e-tailers must
find a way to balance accepting as many orders as possible with
protecting themselves against fraud. CyberSource and Visa's
offering is one way to do that, King said.
"It really does enable e-commerce and consumer confidence," he
said.
The system will be available in January, King said, citing the
demands of the holiday buying season as the reason the system is
not available now.
When the Advanced Fraud Screen is available, companies will need to
sign up with CyberSource, download an application and pay the
associated fees. Multiple clients written in Java or Perl will be
available, as are kits and plug-ins for major e-commerce, ERP
(Enterprise Resource Planning) and CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) applications.
A set-up fee of $5,000 (£3,520) will be required. There will be
either a fee of $0.18 per transaction (the price goes down based on
volume) or an annual subscription, which costs up to $10,000.
Also available is a three to five-day "Jumpstart" consultation that
helps companies implement the Fraud Screen system and create
policies for how to use the risk assessment scores in their sales
systems, King said.
Further information
Visa:
www.visa.com/
CyberSource:
www.cybersource.com/