Protecting the Enterprise Against Fraud and Abuse

    SEATTLE, WA, December 03, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- It is unfortunate that the breadth of possible ways to attack the commercial systems of a company are as limitless as the imagination of the bad actors eager to take advantage of the unseen vulnerabilities. FiveBy Solutions, a Seattle-based firm with expertise in risk and fraud management, has found that these incidences themselves continue to multiply, coming in the form of piracy, phishing attacks, financial fraud involving rebates or discounts, warranty fraud, fake accounts, or stolen credit cards.

While artificial intelligence (AI) can detect suspicious patterns of fraudsters, it is often that human experts are needed who can use the data and then think forward to plan and remediate potential areas of weakness. These skilled analysts can see the interconnections of various attacks and often think ahead of where the next opportunity for fraud might present itself. Such engagements help companies take control of issues before they have a big impact.

The surface area for fraud and abuse attacks is large, especially for those companies managing multiple daily transactions. News outlets tell stories of the companies attacked including retail giants, gaming platforms, subscription businesses – in fact any company where money is traded for purchases, services, or entertainment. The complexity of attacks of fraud and abuse can slip easily past the enterprise guardrails of policy and program rules.

Alex Kochis, president and founder of FiveBy, shares how FiveBy consultants worked to uncover fraud on a new entertainment platform of a large tech firm, and were then able to reduce ongoing fraud by over 80%, amounting to millions of dollars in loss prevention for their client. It took months of work to analyze and sift the data. Then those experts set up parameters that would block fraud and abuse in the online transaction systems. Today, that same company trusts FiveBy with running a continuous operation that monitors financial transactions to keep fraudsters from abusing legitimate transactions that occur at a high rate, with millions of users on the service every day.

It is important that fraud prevention happens at the earliest stages of the risk discovery, versus waiting until after a serious event. Unable to keep ahead of the threat themselves, many companies are turning to experts that analyze potential risks and review the data. These consultants then focus on understanding and preventing vulnerabilities that can lead to potential fraud and abuse.

FiveBy works closely with clients to investigate areas of concern and come up with strategies to eliminate any vulnerabilities found. The firm combines both data and expert analysts to analyze the situation and create processes, procedures, and policies to prevent further loss. Their consultants speak over 24 languages and have industry certifications in risk management.

While there are technical automation controls available for helping prevent certain forms of fraud and abuse, companies still find that it is vital to apply some of the 'secret sauce' expertise of human smarts and experience. Mr Kochis is a recognized industry expert in fraud, financial abuse, and compliance. "Our work at FiveBy has focused on building and improving the ways companies protect their customers, their data, and themselves. We've typically done this by going into a customer environment and performing assessments, designing approaches, and then helping the customer build internal programs and processes to address the challenges," responded Kochis.

According to FiveBy, many companies are tempted to adopt a lower cost corporate fraud prevention approach which only touches the surface issues, or is designed to solve for a single incident, and doesn't systematically stop the problem from occurring. Companies adopting a light touch approach can find themselves in real trouble. Situations can evolve quickly to involve account takeovers, trade sanction risks, or money laundering. For any company that transacts online, it pays-off to be proactive and engage early with expert analysts, before issues can gain traction, and the fraudsters get a foothold.

Most companies want a flexible arrangement or approach. "We can supplement existing teams to provide resource and expertise, or build original solutions from the ground up," states Kochis.

Their website, www.fiveby.com/news has many advisories that demonstrate the serious nature of these threats, and how every new technique of the attackers must be understood quickly and even anticipated. FiveBy believes this is the special relationship between using data and the expert human to analyze and predict the future threats.

One of the biggest rewards for the FiveBy consultants are when they can see the contribution of their analytical work providing the important platform support that make their customers stronger. The common result is that the business profits aren't being eroded by fraud and abuse. "We are excited to work with clients to turn business risks into opportunities," concludes Kochis. "Our experts take genuine joy in solving these big issues and unwinding often complex situations to protect our clients."

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