Applications – Account Takeover
AKA – Login Fraud, Account Hijacking, Account Compromise
Account takeover is one of the more prevalent forms of identity theft. It is becoming increasingly prominent and is a growing point of financial exposure for businesses and consumers. It occurs when a fraudster obtains an individual's personal information such as an account number, password, username or social security number and changes the official contact information like a mail/email address or adds another user to an existing account. Once accomplished, the fraudster has established a window of opportunity in which transactions are conducted without the victim's knowledge.
Historically, account takeover fraud has been limited to financial institutions, however, this type of fraud can take place anywhere an account is used to buy, store or access private/confidential information, goods and services. Account takeover is also associated with various forms of ID theft such as phishing, fake websites and botnets.
Kount makes it easy for merchants to detect and prevent account takeover attempts by using state-of-the-art techniques and proprietary technology. Kount Complete™ uses patented technologies like Multi-layer Device Fingerprinting, Proxy Piercer™ geolocation, velocity checks, cross-merchant order linking, Persona™ behavioral modeling, statistical scoring and a powerful rules engine that can help detect fraud the very first time it appears. The powerful Kount platform reviews each account creation event and returns a risk assessment in an average of just 350 milliseconds.
With Kount you can quickly determine if the user is a customer or a fraudster:
- Detect proxy IP addresses and reveal the true location of a fraudster
- Detect inconsistencies in device, location, address, email, etc. to reveal suspicious activity and anomalies
- Eliminate inconvenient security checks for good customers.
- Track velocity of information being presented to detect fraudulent activity such as multiple accounts associated with a single device.
- Detect account utilization anomalies such as credential sharing.
- Link variables such as device, email, credit card, etc. to detect fraudulent associations across our entire merchant base.
- Identify fraud rings and fraud-staging activities
- Reveal fraudulent activities such as “card testing”, synthetic identity creation and use.
- Provide comprehensive risk score from Kount’s integrated platform for a complete analysis of fraud
- Detect bad behavior associated with new accounts.
- Stop the repeated creation of accounts by malicious users.
- Customize rules to match the unique needs of an Internet business.
- Automated, real-time use of best-in-class identity verification tools.
- Easily create/add positive and negative lists using automation.
Even with all this, Kount provides the fastest most accurate responses with their all-in-one, turnkey fraud solution that is easy-to-implement and easy-to-use. For more information, complete the form on this page.
The Scenario
The victim gets an email from what looks to be their bank informing them their account needs “additional information.” The victim clicks on the link inside the email which takes them to a very real, authentic-looking (but fake) bank website. The victim fills out the requested information and is sent a confirmation email (also fake).
The fraudster takes the information provided by the victim to change the address for monthly statements and adds the fraudster as a user on the account. Now the fraudster can use this account set up other fraudulent accounts, transfer funds, or simply steal the balance. This may go undetected for days or weeks, until the victim notices the unusual behavior or is notified of insufficient funds in their account.
Kount detects, exposes and prevents the fraud from occurring protecting both the victim and the merchant in real-time, avoiding costly losses, chargebacks and angry customers.