Fraud Prevention: VPDQ risk management with The 3rd Man

VPDQ or Verified Payment Data Query is an extensive risk management tool offered within VSP Admin to help you to detect and prevent fraud. The service was launched in November 2005 with our risk management partner The 3rd Man.

VPDQ provides you with fraud indicators to show high risk (red), medium risk (amber) and low risk (green) transactions in the VSP Admin reports so that it is easy to see the level of risk associated with each transaction. Detailed reports will also show why a transaction has been given a particular rating so that you can decide whether or not you wish to accept it.

Each transaction is screened by The 3rd Man and the results are displayed in an easy to understand decision tool within the Protx VSP Admin reports alongside the AVS, CV2 and Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode results (if you have VbV and MSC set up on your account).

Please note that if the delivery address is different from the billing address and not provided at the time of authorisation, then the risk score will not be valid.

Similarly, the value of the risk score is directly related to the quality of information provided. Details of email, delivery address, phone numbers and IP address must be provided wherever possible

As part of this service, The 3rd Man support a dedicated fraud telephone support line to answer any questions that Protx merchants may have about a suspicious transaction. If you would like advice on a potentially fraudulent transaction, please call 0905 234 0962. Calls to the advice line are charged at £1 per minute to cover costs.

Key Benefits to you:

• Helps you to avoid fraud and chargebacks: the service is designed to provide you with more information about the person ordering from your site so that you can detect fraud before it takes place and prevent it from damaging your business.
• No integration: the fraud screening is completed for you and the results are displayed in VSP Admin.
• Easy to use: the traffic light fraud indicators provide a simple way of identifying high risk transactions at a glance.
• Saves time: the results take account of the AVS, CV2 and VbV and MSC results (if you have them activated on your account) and so you only need to look at one result to gauge the risk level.
• Informative: the detailed risk analysis will provide you with the reasons why a transaction was given a particular fraud score so that you can decide whether you wish to accept or reject a transaction.

If you would like further information about how the 3rd man checks are carried out, please visit our support website.