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Common types of online payment fraud and how to prevent them
Fraud Detection
MAKE FRAUD PREVENTION PAY
Don't stop at blocking bad actors. Engineer compounding gains with a modular fraud ecosystem designed to improve acceptance, cut operational costs, and filter for trust.
The smart way to outsmart fraud
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Depend on network intelligence
Fraudsters don't operate alone, and neither should you. We arm you with millions of shared network signals and machine learning insights to block repeat attackers before they even hit your checkout.
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Filter for trust, lift acceptance
Effective fraud prevention is a revenue driver. Send consistently clean traffic to issuers to make your traffic fundamentally more trustworthy and unlock higher overall approval rates.
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Risk-free experimentation
Get rid of the guesswork in your risk strategy. Use backtesting to measure performance against specific historical periods in time, and run live shadow testing to prove a rule's revenue impact before it touches live traffic.
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Adaptive, scalable control
Work smart with control and flexibility. Go live instantly with frictionless baseline security, hand the wheel to our AI autopilot for zero operational overhead, or build highly granular custom ML rules for total enterprise control.
Choose your fraud fighter
We offer two tiers of protection, allowing you to tailor your risk strategy to your exact business needs, industry, and team size.
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Fraud Detection
Protect your bottom line without getting in the way of legitimate customers. Our foundational security is powered by global network intelligence for every Checkout.com merchant. It screens transactions silently, neutralizes known threats without adding latency, and allows you to intuitively manage velocity limits and targeted allow/block lists.
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Fraud Detection Pro
Our advanced prevention offers scalable control, machine learning precision, and deeper explainability. Designed for merchants who want to actively turn risk management into a commercial advantage, Fraud Detection Pro puts you in the driver's seat with powerful ML network properties, custom logic, and transparent transaction-level insights.
One API. The tools you need to take control of risk opportunities.
From foundational controls to advanced machine learning properties, our ecosystem gives you the exact features required to shape your traffic, stop bad actors, and approve more genuine customers.
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Machine learning risk scores
Every transaction receives a precise risk score. Powered by our global network models and deep device data (via Risk.js), these scores instantly identify complex fraud patterns and can automatically trigger dynamic routing or authentication.
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Advanced velocity rules
Build multi-layered velocity rules based on cumulative spend, relative occurrences (e.g. multiple emails used per cardholder), and cross-merchant network velocities (e.g. blocking devices that have multiple disputes on the Checkout.com network).
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Risk profiles & custom logic
Get granular control of your strategy. Group rules into comprehensive Risk Profiles, assign positive or negative scores to specific triggers, and set custom thresholds to accept, decline, or challenge (3DS) payments based on your logic.
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Frictionless testing
Never guess how a rule will impact revenue. Use shadow testing (Standard) to simulate outcomes silently on live traffic, or upgrade to backtesting (Pro) to instantly run a new strategy against months of historical data and prove its ROI in minutes.
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pro
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Allow and block lists
Reduce manual reconciliation work by automatically splitting funds - at authorization or capture - into multiple accounts.Easily manage referral lists to block known bad actors or bypass friction for VIP customers. Pro users can expand this by building custom lists, using historical templates, and deploying dynamic high-risk country lists directly into their rule logic.
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Explainability and reporting
Eliminate the black box. Get full transparency with transaction-level explainability showing the exact triggers behind every decision, alongside comprehensive dashboards to monitor your strategy's performance and false-positive rates.
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Want to see what Fraud Detection can do for your business?
case study
Fraud Detection Pro’s machine learning and flexible rules allow us to quickly respond to attacks and find the right balance between lowering fraud and maximizing acceptance rates. Shadow mode testing allows us to safely experiment with new strategies without impacting customer experience.
Protection that scales with you
Every business is different. Some need silent, foundational security to protect their baseline without adding friction, others need an advanced suite to actively recover margin. From essential network defense to enterprise-grade AI, compare the capabilities to see which solution fits your strategy.
Fraud Detection (Standard)
Fraud Detection Pro (Premium)
Who it's for
A baseline solution that doesn't get in the way of business, ideal for merchants in lower-risk industries or without a significant fraud issue.
Merchants who need a scaleable solution, from automated AI management to advanced, granular control over their risk strategy.
The engine
Active. Runs the global risk engine in the background.
Active and configurable. You hold the wheel with data from the global network ingested in decisioning.
Rules
Standard rules. Basic velocity checks, consistency checks, and referral lists (allow/block).
Machine learning models and advanced properties. Use insights from across the entire Checkout.com network to identify users with a pattern of fraud or disputes.
Testing
Shadow testing. Simulate outcomes on live traffic over time before applying them.
Shadow resting and backtesting. Quickly measure performance or test strategies against specific historical periods in just minutes.
Explainability
Detailed transaction-level explainability showing triggering factors.
Deep transaction-level explainability showing exact risk scores (0-100) and triggering factors.
Management
Manual rule building with extensive but limited properties available.
Scale of control, ranging from advanced manual rule building to autopilot – managing the strategy for you.
Ready to take control of your risk?
Find out how we can help your business go further.
Checkout.com’s Fraud Detection Pro solution is like using a scalpel, compared to some of the other tools in the market that are more like a sledgehammer. We established a sophisticated solution using our own data and custom rules that is unique to our needs by working closely with the Checkout.com team.
Frequently asked questions
How can machine learning help with fraud detection?
Machine learning is the first line of defense against fraud. Using data from the billions of transactions Checkout.com processes globally, Fraud Detection learns to differentiate between legitimate and fraudulent behavior, and to adapt to ever-changing fraud tactics. This boosts your fraud-fighting capacity by reducing the amount of manual work you’re required to do.
However, machine learning isn't a silver bullet, which is why it works in tandem with the rules you create to block or accept transactions, or to ask for further verification. Fraud Detection’s robust rules engine allows you to build rules from an infinite range of types and combinations (custom rules are only available with Fraud Detection Pro).
For example with Fraud Detection Pro you can decide on outcomes for specific risk scores, segment customers and apply unique strategies based on their risk level.
With Pro, you also get powerful analytics, reporting and testing, so you can continually optimize your fraud prevention strategy.
What can I do to prevent fraud and disputes?
Our Fraud Detection solutions can help you tackle fraud by giving you control over how you accept transactions. This works in parallel to our disputes product which helps you view and fight any disputes that arise.
You can develop risk strategies by building rules and outcomes to deal with specific scenarios. For example, you can ensure that any transaction over a particular value requires 3D Secure (3DS) authentication.
Or, if you detect that a card has been used more than three times within an hour, you can flag it as suspicious or automatically decline the transaction. Additionally, by implementing 3DS, the issuer becomes liable for any costs incurred as a result of fraud or chargebacks.
We also offer Rapid Disputes Resolution (RDR) in partnership with Visa company Verifi. RDR helps you to automatically resolve transaction disputes with a pre-dispute resolution that follows your pre-defined rules. This means the transaction will not be classed as a chargeback by Visa, which can help to avoid you being placed on a chargeback program.
What are my options for fraud management with Checkout.com?
Built directly into our platform, Fraud Detection protects your business and reduces false positives. You can create flexible rules and approve and deny lists to stop fraud while ensuring legitimate transactions are authorized. Meanwhile, dynamic machine learning works to identify and stay ahead of fraudulent trends.
We offer both a free and a paid fraud management solution.
Fraud Detection, the free version, comes with preset configurations, so you can go live immediately. It’s best for businesses that don’t yet have a significant fraud problem and have only limited internal fraud-fighting resources.
Fraud Detection Pro, our premium product, allows you to fully customize your risk setup so you can tailor your strategy to the level of threat you face. It’s designed for larger merchants with internal fraud teams.
For information on how to implement Checkout.com’s Fraud Detection solution see our documentation.
