Copenhagen-based digital payments specialist Nets is rolling out a service in the Nordic region to screen against fraudulent transactions online, with a particular focus on “clickbait fraud” that aims to entice consumers to unknowingly authorize recurring payments in exchange for nothing.
The service was designed to combat two types of fraud that currently are among the fastest-growing in Nordic countries: clickbait offers that are too good to be true, and unsolicited direct debits, according to a press release. In these scams, consumers think they’re agreeing to a one-time payment, but the offer's fine print obligates them to recurring payments.
Nets' new service analyzes data from card disputes to proactively identify and block transaction requests between consumers and merchants known to be fraudulent, in spite of the scammers' efforts to constantly change their names, acquirers and other identifiers to avoid detection, Nets said in the release.
“We estimate that up to 25% of all card disputes raised in the Nordic countries can be attributed to clickbait offers and fraudulent recurring payments,” said Judith Thrane, senior vice president of fraud and disputes at Nets, in the release.
Nets began a soft launch of the service in Norway last year with 100 financial services customers, including Sparebank1, resulting in an average 20% decline in card disputes, according to the release. The service is now also available in Denmark, Finland and Sweden.
Nets already provides broad payment services to hundreds of banks in the Nordic region, providing visibility into local fraud trends and enabling the development of its latest solution, Thrane noted in the release.
