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Zendor Works With 3rd Man to Combat Fraud Via Sony Computer Entertainment UK Online Store

Press Release

By: Zendor
14 April 2005

Distance shopping specialist, Zendor, has worked with fraud screening company, the 3rd Man, to implement a solution for Sony Computer Entertainment UK (SCE UK) after a high level of fraudulent attempts via its online store http://shop.uk.playstation.com were identified.

Zendor, developer of SCE UK’s online store, investigated a number of fraud solutions on the market. Zendor recommended the 3rd Man’s solution to SCE UK as it considers every part of an online transaction - person, product and delivery - as well as payment dynamics. This holistic approach enables fraud to be tackled speedily and effectively without discriminating against genuine customers (which was a concern with some of the other real-time solutions on the market).

John Garrick, Zendor’s Chief Technical Officer explains: “Fraud is not just about credit cards bouncing. There are also fraudsters who use genuine cards but deny receipt of goods, or fabricate returns. One of the reasons that we recommended 3rd Man, and SCE UK subsequently appointed them, was that unlike most other fraud prevention measures, it is not entirely orientated around the credit card.”

The SCE UK fraud solution involved Zendor implementing a datafeed so that all transactional data from online customers could be sent to the 3rd Man. The 3rd Man then analyses and screens the data using a scoring system and feeds back its findings prior to the goods being shipped. This means that any suspicious transactions are flagged immediately.

During analysis, the 3rd Man monitors repetition of certain behaviours, behavioural traits that are out of the ‘norm’, cross-overs e.g. linking telephone numbers/addresses on different orders, anonymous e-mail addresses, and known offenders.

The 3rd Man then creates a score sheet based on all the behavioural traits, with the underlying risk of each transaction shown. The transactions considered to be high risk are given further investigation before the goods are released.

The benefits of this approach to online fraud are that risk is managed without adverse customer impact. Fraud is eradicated and the solution also prevents it from returning without ‘blocking out’ genuine customers; as a result, SCE UK’s online customer service reputation is enhanced. Costs are also reduced (hidden costs of fraud and fraud prevention besides the cost of goods include delivery, admin, charge-backs and workforce costs).