New iShopSecure solution designed to eliminate online identification fraud

[March 7th 2001]

To help eliminate online identification fraud and unwarranted chargebacks, iShopSecure, Inc. announced today the launch of their real-time payer authentication solution - Transact-Secure.

Designed to protect both merchants and consumers alike, this authentication solution will immediately assure merchants that persons making purchases are who they say they are and that they are the owners of the payment cards they're using rather than simply scoring a transaction based on the previous purchasing history of consumers. The end result will be the immediate slashing of current fraud losses.

"Transact-Secure is an ideal turn-key solution for all e-merchants," said Joseph A. McDonnell, CEO for iShopSecure. "This application is of tremendous value to merchants and assures them that their bottom line will no longer be affected by those who try to commit fraud on their Web site."

Last year, e-merchants lost more than $300 million to consumer related online fraud and will reach more than $1 billion by 2002. This type of fraud, known as "identification" fraud, occurs when criminals use a consumer's credit card to make online purchases or consumers make an online purchase then later denying the transaction. Due to the nature of online transactions where credit cards are not present, merchants have little to no recourse and are the ones held liable when transactions conducted at their sites are later declared to be fraudulent and subsequently charged back to them. Because of this, online merchants end up paying higher discount rates and fees and are subjected to higher penalties based on their chargeback percentages.

Transact-Secure uses a real-time, two-tiered approach for authentication that provides merchants with greater flexibility and control over the authentication and transaction acceptance process. With Transact-Secure, merchants are able to determine the risk levels they are willing to accept and to make changes in a matter of minutes as the need arises.

The first tier, or "in-wallet" authentication, for lower dollar purchases, determines the purchasers' true identity based on information that would be held in their possession, which may include their billing addresses, telephone numbers or social security numbers.

The second tier, or "out-of-wallet" authentication, offers a 100 percent guarantee of the purchaser's true identity and is commonly used for higher dollar transactions. This authentication process provides a more comprehensive identification process based upon information only the consumers could know and is not in their immediate possession. Questions may include:

• What is the amount of your mortgage payment?
• Who do you bank with?
• How much is your car payment each month?

Links
iShopSecure		http://www.ishopsecure.com