User's Guide

Fraud Filter Reference
High-risk Address Filters
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86 Fraud Protection Services User’s Guide
level of the IP address indicates the region or country from which the computer is
connecting, and is thus relatively fixed. Therefore the IP Address risk list is most
effective as a screen for overseas fraud.
The specified action is taken whenever a submitted IP address appears in the risk list.
How does the filter protect me?
A customer’s IP address identifies a country, region, state, or city. As with ZIP codes, these
addresses can be associated with higher or lower likelihood of fraud. This is especially true
with high-risk countries that are known to be associated with especially high rates of fraud.
Required Transaction Data
You must send the customer’s IP address to use this filter.
Email Service Provider Risk List Match Filter
What does the filter do?
This filter compares the e-mail service provider used by the customer against a list of high-risk
e-mail service providers.
NOTE: Fraudsters most often use free services at which they do not need to provide traceable
billing information. (Free services are also popular among legitimate shoppers—
because they are free.)
It is therefore a good practice to check whether the billing name appears in some form
in the e-mail address. For example, Tina Johnson should have an e-mail address of
[e-mail] or [e-mail], or some similar variant. Such
an e-mail address is less suspicious than [e-mail].
The specified action is taken whenever the e-mail service provider is found in the risk list.
How does the filter protect me?
Online merchants rarely talk to their customers. The customer’s e-mail address is a critical
communications channel between the merchant and customer. For example, e-mail is often
used to confirm a purchase and to notify the customer that shipment has been made.
It is therefore important for merchants to determine how reliably the e-mail address is tied to
the identity of the customer. Some e-mail service providers make it especially easy to open and
close e-mail accounts without ever providing personal information, enabling fraudsters to use
false identities to cover their tracks.
You should examine any transaction in which a high-risk e-mail service provider is involved.
Geo-location Failure Filter
What does the filter do?
This filter compares the IP address of the customer’s computer (captured in real-time when the
transaction is submitted) and compares its geographical location to the billing and shipping