How TripAdvisor Sends Review Fraudsters Packing

Fraudsters are as busy during the holidays as consumers and merchants. There are plenty of opportunities for cybercriminals to wreak havoc, especially as online and mobile shoppers increase their purchasing volume for gifts and holiday travel.

Cybercriminals are finding it best to embrace the omnichannel approach to fraud, where they hit every customer service channel for best results. They are especially targeting mobile-first campaigns and in-app advertisements, where advertisers are expected to spend $77 billion to capture picky customers.

The latest Fraud Decisioning Playbook analyzes fraud news and trends as the 2019 holiday season draws to a close, and examines how online platforms are looking to more fully protect their users and online shoppers as fraud mounts.

The Latest Fraud-Decisioning Developments

Facebook is hoping that a fraud-decisioning upgrade will dissuade fraudsters from its platform. The social network company has released an outline of new user practices aimed at protecting its security, and has implemented several other changes to its security measures as well. This includes tracking a device’s battery to establish that users are in the locations they should be.

Loyalty and rewards company Drop Tank is also focusing on new fraud protections — in its own case, utilizing blockchain technology. The firm is turning to blockchain to protect the services of gas station and convenience store owners from fraudsters. The chain will help categorize and certify product offers from retailers for higher security.

Fraudsters are moving up their own efforts as fraud protections grow. Cybercriminals are targeting in-app promotions in advance of the holiday season, which are becoming more important to online and mobile shoppers. With advertisers expected to spend $77 billion on mobile advertising, this unfortunately makes it a lucrative opportunity for fraudsters.

For more on this and other stories, visit the Playbook’s News & Trends section.

TripAdvisor’s Data-Driven Fight Against False Reviews

Customers rely on the reviews of other consumers, a dependence that has only deepened in the age of online shopping and travel. Fraudsters are aware of just how important reviews can be to potential customers, and they are quite willing to exploit that importance. Making sure that customers are protected, and that false reviews can be isolated and removed, is critical for companies, said James Kay, director of corporate communications for travel marketplace TripAdvisor.

To learn more about how TripAdvisor is fighting false reviews to keep the customer experience safe and secure, visit the Playbook’s feature story.

How Fraud-Decisioning Tools Can Protect Against Omnichannel Fraud

Consumers want to shop and transact however they like, and that can mean an infinite variety of preferred payment methods or shopping channels. Thus, businesses must support multiple channels and ways for their end customers to interact with them, but each channel comes with its own security detriments. That is why these companies need to develop omnichannel fraud protection strategies to keep customers — who are expecting to see an omnichannel experience — safe from bad actors.

To learn more about how fraud-decisioning tools can help, visit the Playbook’s Deep Dive.

About The Playbook

The Fraud Decisioning Playbook, a PYMNTS and Simility collaboration, is a monthly report that highlights the way eCommerce merchants, financial institutions and other businesses embrace fraud-decisioning solutions to reduce chargebacks and account takeovers, enabling secure and seamless experiences for legitimate users.