Case study: Betfair
All companies that trade online know that to survive, they must have the trust of their customers. Online betting giant Betfair explains the security measures it has put in place to prevent cardholder-not-present fraud
Linda More, Computing 26 Jul 2007
Betfair is one of the largest online gaming companies in the world, with more than a million registered users. It provides online sports betting, casino, poker and exchange-based games and it depends on its customers handing over legitimate credit card details.
Sandra Barton-Nicol, head of risk investigations at Betfair, says minimising credit card fraud is extremely high on the company’s agenda.
‘The risk associated with gambling is that you don’t have a product, and so you can’t hold an order while you deal with the financials,’ she says. ‘Therefore we tend to be extra cautious, which reduces the risk to the business so that it isn’t significantly higher than most other types of online retailing.’
Minimising fraudulent transactions is a process that has been built in and embedded as part of the whole proposition of the Betfair online site, with risk rules put in place during the site design and traffic flow optimisation stages.
‘In addition to software that analyses transactions it is important to have dedicated staff that look at the trades that are going through the business,’ says Barton-Nicol. ‘A large part of fraud detection is in identifying traffic and transactions that fall outside the norm – internet protocol (IP) addresses that don’t match the registered company, credit cards details that differ from the given particulars and so on.’
For Betfair, building up a picture of trust with its customers from the scant facts with which it is provided is an important part of business.
‘If a customer says they live in England, we can check from their IP address if their internet service provider mail server is in the UK, whether their email address is real, and if their landline telephone number exists and corresponds with other details,’ says Barton-Nicol. ‘We also create a profile of an average punter’s activity and see if the behaviour tallies. Are they acting out of the ordinary and if so, why?’
Betfair uses a number of different technologies to identify the exceptions within its business. Some provide weighted rules, while others employ artificial intelligence to identify unusual patterns of behaviour.
Betfair has seen a significant reduction in CNP fraud as it has added more tools to its fraud detection investigation. Good people, robust processes and investment in technology are the three key components of the equation.
Although schemes such as Verified by **** are part of the solution, Betfair believes that the responsibility to control the level of fraud going through any business rests firmly with the business itself.
‘We want to protect our clients and we don’t want people coming to our site and using other people’s credit cards,’ says Barton-Nicol. ‘Good fraud detection and prevention builds trust, and the more confidence people have in our site the more they will use it.’
All companies that trade online know that to survive, they must have the trust of their customers. Online betting giant Betfair explains the security measures it has put in place to prevent cardholder-not-present fraud
Linda More, Computing 26 Jul 2007
Betfair is one of the largest online gaming companies in the world, with more than a million registered users. It provides online sports betting, casino, poker and exchange-based games and it depends on its customers handing over legitimate credit card details.
Sandra Barton-Nicol, head of risk investigations at Betfair, says minimising credit card fraud is extremely high on the company’s agenda.
‘The risk associated with gambling is that you don’t have a product, and so you can’t hold an order while you deal with the financials,’ she says. ‘Therefore we tend to be extra cautious, which reduces the risk to the business so that it isn’t significantly higher than most other types of online retailing.’
Minimising fraudulent transactions is a process that has been built in and embedded as part of the whole proposition of the Betfair online site, with risk rules put in place during the site design and traffic flow optimisation stages.
‘In addition to software that analyses transactions it is important to have dedicated staff that look at the trades that are going through the business,’ says Barton-Nicol. ‘A large part of fraud detection is in identifying traffic and transactions that fall outside the norm – internet protocol (IP) addresses that don’t match the registered company, credit cards details that differ from the given particulars and so on.’
For Betfair, building up a picture of trust with its customers from the scant facts with which it is provided is an important part of business.
‘If a customer says they live in England, we can check from their IP address if their internet service provider mail server is in the UK, whether their email address is real, and if their landline telephone number exists and corresponds with other details,’ says Barton-Nicol. ‘We also create a profile of an average punter’s activity and see if the behaviour tallies. Are they acting out of the ordinary and if so, why?’
Betfair uses a number of different technologies to identify the exceptions within its business. Some provide weighted rules, while others employ artificial intelligence to identify unusual patterns of behaviour.
Betfair has seen a significant reduction in CNP fraud as it has added more tools to its fraud detection investigation. Good people, robust processes and investment in technology are the three key components of the equation.
Although schemes such as Verified by **** are part of the solution, Betfair believes that the responsibility to control the level of fraud going through any business rests firmly with the business itself.
‘We want to protect our clients and we don’t want people coming to our site and using other people’s credit cards,’ says Barton-Nicol. ‘Good fraud detection and prevention builds trust, and the more confidence people have in our site the more they will use it.’