It’s International Fraud Week, and we asked our Cybersource Managed Risk Analysts to tell us why they’re passionate about fighting fraud, what their current challenges are, and how their certification helps them keep their skills sharpened.
What do you like about being a Managed Risk Analyst at Cybersource?
Kelli Bartholomaus, Managed Risk Analyst
My favorite thing about being a Managed Risk Analyst at Cybersource is the opportunity to work with a variety of merchants in different verticals and help them manage and guide their fraud strategy.
I value our relationship as we work together to achieve goals like reducing review rates, increasing order acceptance, or minimizing customer friction. Each client has unique challenges, but we are all fighting the same fight against fraud. Being able to support Commerce merchants with my fraud expertise and reference my experience in various roles that I’ve held in the risk space gets me excited to come to work every day.
Josh Bagley, Managed Risk Analyst
The one thing I like best about being a Managed Risk Analyst (MRA) is helping each of my merchants achieve their individual goals. As an MRA, I am given the opportunity to work with merchants from all over the country and in several different verticals.
Although each merchant can have unique challenges, we are able to work together to help maximize revenue and minimize risk. I find it very rewarding when I get the opportunity to share with a merchant that we achieved exactly what we set out to do.
Katelyn Conat, Managed Risk Analyst
I really like working with a variety of merchants across different verticals. I love interacting with the merchants and working with their fraud teams to help reduce their fraud risk and increase better payment experience for their good customers.
The job is always evolving and every day brings new challenges so I have to stay organized and prepared in working on new strategies for my merchants. I love the training aspect of the job and collaborating with merchants to empower them to use the Decision Manager tool to optimize their specific business needs.
What is the biggest challenge for our merchants right now?
Kelli Bartholomaus, Managed Risk Analyst
My colleagues and I have seen an increase in card testing. Today, card testers are creating accounts on a merchant’s site and adding a card to their profile with no intention of making a purchase.
A credit card authorization is run to verify if the card is active, which is what the fraudster wants to know. Multiple authorization attempts can cost a merchant big money and even lead to acquirer fines for excessive authorization attempts. I work closely with merchants to provide best practices and insights. Merchants can start with protection at the site level and leverage Decision Manager for velocity rules and/or rules prior to the authorization.
Josh Bagley, Managed Risk Analyst
With the global impact of the pandemic, the fraud landscape has shifted. When most of the country and the world was closing down, we saw a dramatic shift from customers buying items at brick-and-mortar stores to looking for ways to shop online.
Because of this, many merchants saw a significant spike in their eCommerce traffic. This shift has caused an increase in “friendly fraud.” This occurs when a customer purchases a product, the customer receives the product, and then claims the order was placed fraudulently. The reason behind this can be any number of things that range from buyer’s remorse to a sudden job loss.
We have also seen an increase in the buy-online-pickup-in-stores fraud as more and more merchants are offering this as an option. Fraudsters have figured out that these orders are usually fulfilled within hours, instead of days, when an order is purchased online. I would expect both of these fraud trends to grow as we continue to adjust to life with COVID-19.
Katelyn Conat, Managed Risk Analyst
I think the biggest challenge for merchants right now is the ability to quickly adjust to the current trends in shopping patterns and products in demand. I think that merchants must be able to have the ability to adapt and then be prepared for the new fraud patterns that will emerge from the shifts.
COVID presents an even more of a challenge as it is even harder to make predictions or forecasts and merchants must be prepared for anything.
Why did you earn your Certified Fraud Examiner certification?
Kelli Bartholomaus, Managed Risk Analyst
The Certified Fraud Examiner credential is recognized globally in the fraud industry. With almost 13 years of anti-fraud experience, obtaining the certification was a way to validate my commitment along with more than 85,000 members of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
This also solidified my status as an anti-fraud professional. I have even convinced a few of my merchants to obtain the credential as well. My only regret is that I didn’t get it sooner!
Josh Bagley, Managed Risk Analyst
The Certified Fraud Examiner credential is recognized globally in the fraud industry. With almost 13 years of anti-fraud experience, obtaining the certification was a way to validate my commitment. At the time, I was looking for ways to not only expand my knowledge on card-not-present fraud, but also to become familiar with trends in the global fraud landscape.
I researched many different certifications and degrees, and I found that the ACFE was globally recognized as the standard for certifications within the anti-fraud community.
By joining the ACFE, I would be kept abreast on current fraud trends and solutions by the industry leaders from around the world. I could, in turn, pull from this information when consulting with merchants and colleagues. Becoming a Certified Fraud Examiner has not only expanded my fraud knowledge; it has helped establish my credibility as an expert in my field.
Katelyn Conat, Managed Risk Analyst
I earned my Certified Fraud Examiner certification to gain professional visibility and credibility along with having access the numerous fraud resources available. It is an amazing group to be a part of and network with.
I also have always been interested in fraud but more focused on the why question of when someone commits fraud. Having my CFE certification and being a part of the ACFE community has allowed me to continue professional development as well continuing education.
Learn more about how the Cybersource Managed Risk Services can put decades of collective payment risk management knowledge and expertise to work for your organization.