It’s difficult to imagine life without friendly fraud. Spouses would give the wrong answer to the question, “Does this make me look fat?” Without friendly fraud you couldn’t plan a surprise party. But in e-commerce, friendly fraud poses the question, “Can I get stuff for free?” and the answer is, “Yes, and it’s easy to do.”

Also known as “casual fraud,” all the perpetrator has to do is reverse a charge. For digital goods or subscriptions to online services, you can’t get the product back. For physical goods, it costs money even if you ultimately reclaim the item. How can you catch a fraud perpetrator with a perfectly legitimate method of payment? Most merchants believe that you can’t – not the first time at least. It’s the cost of doing business most say, but that isn’t always true.

This is where PaxGuard™ comes in. Although it does not store personal information about customers, it can track payment reversal history through its Intelligence Network. Friendly fraud’s ease is also its vulnerability. These fraudsters don’t open and close credit card and bank accounts frequently. They’re not organized or sophisticated about fraud.

These fraudsters are usually trying to get free stuff of limited monetary value. Their vulnerability is their means; they have legitimate payment methods that leave a record and seldom change. You, as a merchant employing PaxGuard, can set a limit on the number of reversals that you will accept for a customer, even if that customer has never visited your site before.

You know your customers and your business. This will guide your tolerance for reversals. Some reversals are perfectly legitimate. Some physical goods arrive broken. The lumberjack who ordered blue overalls is sent a black cocktail dress. If a customer downloaded Bon Jovi when they’ve previously only purchased Bach, chances are they had a pretty good reason to reverse the charge.

PaxGuard is at your command. The default settings are suitable for most businesses. Even if you set your risk tolerance low and have zero tolerance for reversals, PaxGuard can provide every customer with a way to pay. If they’re set on committing fraud – friendly, casual, or even criminal – they will leave on their own.