e-commerce to soar, FinTechs move to combat fraud

By Robin Amlot

Retailers are already promoting Black Friday although it seems that Black Friday deals on retail websites won’t just be around for one day but for several weeks. Certainly, the impact of Covid-19 has seen e-commerce activities soar. This year is likely to witness the busiest holiday shopping season ever online – according to Mastercard, e-commerce spending is running at almost double last year’s levels.

This increase in activity has seen a concomitant increase in fraud but now FinTechs are stepping up to combat this threat. Payments disruptor Payoneer has launched Green Channel, a service designed to help e-commerce marketplaces all over the world bring on new sellers that have been pre-screened by the company’s fraud prevention and compliance capabilities. The service empowers marketplaces to grow their inventory rapidly by bringing on high-quality cross-border sellers, while also helping those sellers to expand into new markets quickly and seamlessly – combining to create a trusted ecosystem for cross-border business.

Separately, e-commerce fraud prevention specialist Forter, is partnering FreedomPay, to establish a joint network for online merchants and banks to instantaneously block fraud and enable legitimate consumers to operate freely. This addresses a major issue where multiple players (the online merchant, the credit card issuer and the bank) touch each online transaction – often using different fraud solutions. This inefficiency, combined with the influx of new online shoppers, increases the possibility of false declines for no apparent reason creating a negative customer experience and the potential for lost revenue.

Adam Cohen, General Manager, Enterprise for Payoneer, said: “We have the largest network of marketplace relationships of any payment provider in the world. We have a comprehensive view of any seller’s activity across multiple platforms through which we can identify trusted sellers that are ripe for growth into new markets. Our global ecosystem, paired with local support, makes Green Channel a wholly unique offering that ensures a fast-tracked onboarding for these merchants, providing value to both sides of the network.”

“Our coalition of merchants, payment providers and banks fighting fraud [in e-commerce] together is a huge step forward in global fraud prevention. With over $200 billion in online transactions and over 800 million trusted users, we enable our coalition members to be way more effective in fighting fraud and growing the business with confidence,” said Liron Damri, Co-founder and President of Forter. “Partnering with an industry leading payment organisation, like FreedomPay, allows us to provide its merchants with the most optimal user experience and with a trusted environment that allows them to grow with confidence.”

In addition to its fraud prevention capabilities, Forter’s partnership with FreedomPay provides e-commerce merchants with a global solution that meets regional and country specific compliance requirements, including 3-D Secure (3DS) and other SCA methods for PSD2. Meanwhile, Payoneer reports that 28 marketplaces are already part of its Green Channel program, where they’ve received connections to thousands of sellers worldwide. With over 60% of marketplace fraud on the seller side conducted by repeat offenders, Payoneer’s network of e-commerce partners provides an expansive view of the market, enabling the company to identify and shut down bad actors.

“Our partnership with Payoneer has allowed us to tap in to a pool of vetted and highly-qualified suppliers that have sold in higher multiples compared to our average new suppliers in recent months,” said Michael Zhang, Senior Manager, Head of International Supply Solutions at Wayfair. “We look forward to expanding our efforts with Payoneer and are very excited about opportunities that lie ahead.”