Merchant fraud risk score

Abstract

Methods and systems are presented for a fraud risk score to be given to a merchant for a proposed transaction with a consumer. The fraud risk score is generated by a payment account service provider, such as a credit card processor, using information from a pending transaction as well as information from other payment accounts that the consumer holds to which the payment account service provider is privy. Various factors, including indicators of elevated risk in other payment accounts, are custom-weighted by the merchant for the score.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving from a merchant an authorization request message for a payment from a first payment account, the authorization request message indicating a transaction value;   forwarding the authorization request message to an issuer of the first payment account;   receiving an authorization approval message from the issuer in response to the authorization request message with the transaction value;   determining a rate of purchases of the first payment account;   ascertaining that the first payment account is associated with a second payment account, the second payment account experiencing an elevated velocity of attempted transactions;   calculating, notwithstanding the authorization approval message from the issuer, using a processor operatively coupled to a memory, a fraud risk score based on rate of purchases in the first payment account and the elevated velocity of transactions in the second payment account;   inserting the fraud risk score in the authorization approval message; and   sending the authorization approval message with the fraud risk score to the merchant in response to the authorization request message.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the authorization request message for the payment is from an automated fuel dispenser. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining whether the fraud risk score was inserted in the authorization approval message; and 
 billing the merchant based on a determination that the fraud risk score was inserted in the authorization approval message. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 retrieving a weighting specified by the merchant. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the calculating comprises:
 weighting a first risk based on the rate of purchases in the first payment account and a second risk based on the elevated velocity of attempted transactions in the second payment account using the weighting specified by the merchant. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the authorization request message further specifies an internet protocol (IP) address, the method further comprising:
 determining an inconsistency between a geographic location of the IP address and a billing or shipping address; 
 determining the fraud risk score based on weighting the inconsistency, first risk, and second risk using the weighting specified by the merchant. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the authorization request message further specifies a product identifier, the method further comprising:
 determining a product-related risk of fraud associated with the product identifier; 
 determining the fraud risk score based on weighting the product-related risk, first risk, and second risk using the weighting specified by the merchant. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the product identifier includes stock keeping unit (SKU) information. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the authorization request message further specifies a customer name, the method further comprising:
 determining a negative list match of the customer name with a name on a negative list, the negative list specified by the merchant; 
 determining the fraud risk score based on weighting the negative list match, first risk, and second risk using the weighting specified by the merchant. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the merchant-specified weighting is specified on a web page. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 sending the fraud risk score with other scores in batch to the merchant. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the association between the first and second payment accounts arise from ownership by at least one customer in common. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the association between the first and second payment accounts arise from a common billing address. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the fraud risk score is a two-digit number and the payment accounts are payment card accounts. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the operations are performed in the order shown. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein each operation is performed by the processor operatively coupled to a memory. 
     
     
         17 . A machine-readable tangible storage medium embodying information indicative of instructions for causing one or more machines to perform operations comprising:
 receiving from a merchant an authorization request message for a payment from a first payment account, the authorization request message indicating a transaction value;   forwarding the authorization request message to an issuer of the first payment account;   receiving an authorization approval message from the issuer in response to the authorization request message with the transaction value;   determining a rate of purchases of the first payment account;   ascertaining that the first payment account is associated with a second payment account, the second payment account experiencing an elevated velocity of attempted transactions;   calculating, notwithstanding the authorization approval message from the issuer, using a processor operatively coupled to a memory, a fraud risk score based on rate of purchases in the first payment account and the elevated velocity of transactions in the second payment account;   inserting the fraud risk score in the authorization approval message; and   sending the authorization approval message with the fraud risk score to the merchant in response to the authorization request message.   
     
     
         18 . The medium of  claim 17  wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining whether the fraud risk score was inserted in the authorization approval message; and 
 billing the merchant based on a determination that the fraud risk score was inserted in the authorization approval message. 
 
     
     
         19 . A computer system executing instructions in a computer program, the computer system comprising:
 at least one processor;   a memory coupled with the at least one processor, the at least one processor executing computer program instructions from the memory comprising:
 receiving from a merchant an authorization request message for a payment from a first payment account, the authorization request message indicating a transaction value; 
 forwarding the authorization request message to an issuer of the first payment account; 
 receiving an authorization approval message from the issuer in response to the authorization request message with the transaction value; 
 determining a rate of purchases of the first payment account; 
 ascertaining that the first payment account is associated with a second payment account, the second payment account experiencing an elevated velocity of attempted transactions; 
 calculating, notwithstanding the authorization approval message from the issuer, using a processor operatively coupled to a memory, a fraud risk score based on rate of purchases in the first payment account and the elevated velocity of transactions in the second payment account; 
 inserting the fraud risk score in the authorization approval message; and 
 sending the authorization approval message with the fraud risk score to the merchant in response to the authorization request message. 
   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  wherein the computer program instructions further comprise:
 determining whether the fraud risk score was inserted in the authorization approval message; and 
 billing the merchant based on a determination that the fraud risk score was inserted in the authorization approval message.