Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The more than 7,000 U.S. travel agencies have another tool to help prevent fraud with a new service from Travel Industry Solutions. Meanwhile, chargeback-automation platform Chargeflow and Seon, a fraud-prevention and compliance provider, have integrated Chargeflow’s technology into the Seon platform.
Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based TIS says its tool is the first designed specifically for travel agencies. It provides real-time detection at the pre-authorization stage and the credit card vault level, where sensitive card information may be stored, to detect potential high-risk transactions before a payment is processed.
To do that, the service generates a score, called the TIS Fraud Score, to give users a rating they can use to approve or deny a transaction and to request additional verification. TIS says travel-related fraud and scams are rampant, and pointed to a Booking.com report that found a 500% to 900% increase in travel scams in the past 18 months, mostly because of criminal use of artificial-intelligence technology.
TIS says a service geared to travel agencies and advisors is needed because they typically do not process payments through their own merchant accounts and instead collect the credit card information using secure vaults. They then manually use those cards to pay suppliers.
TIS says the vaults are adept at securing the data, but have no built-in fraud detection capabilities, such as screening for stolen cards, synthetic identities, or suspicious behavior, which can leave travel agencies exposed to losses.
The new TIS service helps with that. “It fits directly into the card-collection process, requires no merchant account, and gives advisors the early warnings they’ve never had before—allowing them to better protect their clients, businesses, and reputations,” Sheila Folk, TIS chief executive and founder, says in a statement.
In related news, New York City-based Chargeflow says its chargeback automation technology is now integrated into the Seon platform, which combines Seon’s AI-enabled fraud detection with Chargeflow’s automated chargeback management services.
With the integration, the parties say merchants using Seon’s platform can now extend their fraud protection to a broader range of threats, from friendly fraud and first-party fraud to third-party fraud.
