Page 43 - GS170101

CEhadputceartTioitnle

or indeed, clothing, in the first place). Consumers should and consumers unwittingly supporting bootleggers to
also do their research. A quick online search will usually fraudsters hitting retailers with stolen payment methods,
reveal if a company is legitimate. If there is no evidence of it is something that everyone with a stake in the industry
it online, then that should be taken as a warning sign too. must work together to fight.

For retailers, the challenge to fight fraud is more complex, The technology needed is available but it will also take
but much like consumers, they must start with becoming a spirit of collaboration and consumer education to fight
knowledgeable. Here are some tips: back against fraud successfully. Ecommerce and mobile
commerce are opening up new opportunities and driving
1. Know your customers. It is essential for retail- sales for fashion retailers. They cannot be allowed to let
ers to be able to tell the difference between normal fraudsters act with impunity.
customer behavior and suspicious behavior. Is a
customer who normally buys smaller items sud- Don Bush joined Kount as Director of Marketing in October 2010 and
denly buying big-ticket items? Has the customer's became Vice President of Marketing in December 2012. Previously, he
delivery address changed? Is the person accessing was Director of Marketing at CradlePoint, a leading manufacturer of
from a mobile when he or she normally accesses wireless routing solutions in the mobile broadband industry. Don has
from a laptop? All of these signs, and more, can be worked in several management roles within the technology segment
indicators that a transaction might be fraudulent. for over 20 years with both hardware/software manufacturers and as a
partner in two top technology marketing agencies. He has led products
2. Where is the transaction coming from? Mo- launches and marketing programs for dozens of companies around the
bile commerce has revolutionized how consum- world such as Citi, HP, IBM, Kodak, Motorola and Weyerhaeuser, and he
ers browse and buy, but it has also opened up co-authored the seminar series, "Common Launch Disasters and How to
new opportunities for criminals. Mobile is less Avoid Them." Contact him at don.bush@kount.com.
secure than other ecommerce channels; therefore
transactions that come from mobile should be
treated with extra caution. Yet research reported
in Kount's Mobile Payments & Fraud: 2016 Report
shows that only 42 percent of merchants can tell
if a transaction came from a mobile device. The
first line of defense is intelligence and without it,
retailers are leaving themselves open to fraud.

3. Challenge chargebacks. Chargebacks go hand
in hand with card-not-present fraud. A charge-
back is when a consumer purchases something
with a credit card and, if the goods are not re-
ceived or arrive broken, the consumer can request
the costs back from their credit card provider. But
what was a valuable way of protecting consum-
ers against fraudulent merchants has fast become
a way for merchants to be defrauded.

It can be difficult for merchants to successfully
challenge chargebacks, leading them to get the
double whammy of losing goods and then los-
ing money from the subsequent chargeback fee.
It's not just professional criminals who carry out
chargeback fraud, though. It's carried out by ev-
eryday consumers who would never consider
themselves criminals. Early warnings of charge-
backs and disputed transactions can give retailers
the chance to challenge them with confidence.

Fraud is a major challenge to the fashion industry, and
one that will continue to grow unless precautions are
put in place. From damaging consumer confidence

43