Overview
Fraud Prevention is a powerful tool designed to help protect your business from suspicious or unauthorized transactions. By setting customizable rules, you can automatically flag or block certain types of transactions based on behavior, volume, location, and other risk indicators.
This tool is especially valuable for online and high-risk merchants, but it can benefit any business that wants better control over the types of transactions it accepts.
What It Does
Fraud Prevention is a rule-based system that screens incoming transactions and flags or blocks them based on your defined rules. These rules can apply across all your processors or be tailored to individual ones.
Here’s what Fraud Prevention can do:
- Block or flag transactions based on transaction size (min/max amounts)
- Restrict or allow specific IP addresses, email addresses, or countries
- Monitor how often a credit card is used over a certain period
- Identify patterns that indicate fraud (e.g., card testing or spinning)
The system reviews each transaction after it reaches the gateway, meaning it cannot prevent someone from visiting your website—but it can stop suspicious payments before they’re finalized.
All transaction sources are covered—whether submitted via API, Virtual Terminal, Batch Upload, or online checkout.
What It Doesn’t Do
Fraud Prevention does not act as a firewall. It won't:
- Block users from visiting your website
- Intervene before the transaction is submitted to your system
For pre-transaction protection, talk to your web developer or hosting provider.
Who Should Use This Tool?
While all businesses can benefit, Fraud Prevention is particularly helpful for:
- E-commerce stores
- International sellers
- Subscription or membership sites
- High-risk industries (e.g., electronics, dating platforms, donation-based nonprofits)
With fraud growing in card-not-present environments, especially as EMV chip adoption increases in-store security, online businesses are more vulnerable than ever.
Merchant Impacts and Business Considerations
- Improved Security: Reduce the chances of chargebacks and fraudulent charges.
- Operational Efficiency: Save time by automatically blocking high-risk transactions instead of manually reviewing them.
- Flexible Rules: Tailor rules to fit your specific risk tolerance and customer base.
- Review Queue: Use the "Flag for Review" setting to manually inspect transactions before they settle.
Common Questions
Does this tool work for in-person (card-present) transactions? Yes. Fraud Prevention works regardless of how the transaction is submitted—whether it's through your website, a terminal, or a virtual terminal.
Can it block someone from visiting my website? No. It only evaluates transactions after they’ve been submitted to the gateway. To restrict site access, consult your web developer or hosting provider.
Do I need to use the Gateway to use Fraud Prevention? Yes. This tool only works with transactions processed through your merchant gateway account.
Need Help?
If you have questions about getting started with Fraud Prevention, reach out to your Merchant Service Provider.