Fraud Prevention Programs Support Revenue Growth Strategies, Says Forter’s Head of Risk

In today’s digital landscape, businesses are increasingly committed to providing a best-in-class customer experience.

And a critical lynchpin of that experience is effective cyber and payments security.

“Fraud and payments leaders are forging new connections internally,” Doriel Abrahams, head of risk, U.S. and principal technologist at Forter, told PYMNTS.

He noted that fraud personnel who regularly provide insights and reporting to other teams feel highly valued, while those who rarely provide updates feel less valued, a fact that underscores the need to avoid siloing fraud strategies from other aspects of the organization.

The need for collaboration among different departments tracks directly with the growing impact fraud can have across various aspects of a company’s operations.

“A great example is marketing,” Abrahams said, explaining that when businesses undertake campaigns and promotions centered around customer acquisition and awareness, it is impossible to measure the quality and veracity of those campaign-led conversions and impressions without connecting them to fraud prevention efforts.

“You might have 500 hits on a new ad, but 450 of them could be fraudulent,” he said.

The Changing Landscape of Fraud and Payments

The changing landscape of potential attack vectors, which is continually being reshaped by innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) and the steady migration of business across more digital channels, is forcing savvy companies and forward-thinking risk managers to retool their security measures.

“Fraudsters tend to identify loopholes in your processes and find every which way to monetize on the opportunities that businesses are inadvertently offering them,” Abrahams said.

By closely collaborating with fraud and risk teams, other departments, like customer success teams and beyond, can for example be better equipped to handle calls from both legitimate users and fraudulent actors, ultimately preventing manipulation and abuse.

“Being ready is 80% of the solution,” Abrahams said. “If fraud managers and risk strategists are aware of upcoming promotions, they can be more prepared for the new users that will come through the initiative.”

He stressed the importance of fraud leaders educating their peers and superiors about the intricacies of fraud management. To effectively report up in an organization, it is crucial to provide clear explanations and use language that resonates with non-technical stakeholders.

Actions like creating a glossary of terminology and focusing on how fraud prevention impacts the company’s success can facilitate better communication and understanding.

“Terminology like chargebacks, approval rates, decline rates,” which may be natural to fraud professionals, could receive blank stares from C-suite leaders or other decision makers, causing a degree of dissonance which can hamstring fraud prevention programs, Abrahams said.

“Being able to explain fraud in terms of something like revenue loss is important,” he said. “When everyone knows what you are talking about, it can be very impactful.”

Establishing Fraud Prevention as a Strategic Imperative

Abrahams also highlighted the potential of generative AI within the fraud space, noting that it is something of a double-edged sword.

“Anyone, including fraudsters, can now take advantage of automated scripts to talk to people in a social engineering capacity or create sophisticated code that can accelerate the ability to deploy high level fraud attacks,” he said.

While fraudsters can exploit AI capabilities for malicious purposes, these tools can empower fraud managers to make sense of data and gain impactful insights without relying solely on data experts or scientists.

That’s part of why identifying emerging trends is key to staying ahead of fraudsters and ensuring the security of online operations, Abrahams said.

He emphasized that fraud prevention should not be viewed solely as a compliance issue but as a strategic target for every company selling products or services online. By implementing the right strategy, businesses can identify and enable legitimate customers while preventing fraudulent activities, potentially turning fraud prevention into an additional revenue stream.

“To this day, fraud and loss prevention, asset protection, has always been looked at through the lens of compliance … but the companies and teams that invest in practicing effective fraud prevention right now, including by leveraging AI, will definitely win the next few years,” Abrahams said.

Particularly as fraud continues to pose challenges for businesses, it is crucial to stay informed, collaborate and invest in the necessary resources to protect both customers and the company’s bottom line.