Forter Launches Fraud-Free Ecommerce Technology in Tel Aviv

Fully automated solution provides fraud-free Ecommerce with 100 percent chargeback protection

Tel Aviv—Feb. 17, 2014—Forter, an Israeli-based startup that offers online retailers a plug-and-play technology that enables fraud-free ecommerce, launched a worldwide fintech innovation center at the inauguration event for Citi’s Innovation Center in Tel Aviv.  Forter presented to 250 of Israel’s leading technology industry personnel as well as hosting a private tour with Israeli President, Shimon Peres, and Citi CEO, Michael Corbat.  

Forter, which has been in stealth mode for the past eight months, was founded by the heads of product, operations and automation at Fraud Sciences, a company that delivered fraud decisions with coverage protection before being acquired by—and integrated into—PayPal in 2008 for $169 million. Forter’s technology, like Fraud Sciences, leverages behavioral data; however, Forter’s technology is fully automated and delivers decisions in real-time to every online merchant, for every transaction. Forter’s technology, which has been tested in PayPal’s 11 million transactions-a-day environment, is scalable and will be available to support enterprises in the near future.

“Preventing ecommerce fraud is not just about denying fraudsters from making purchases, it’s also about approving customers,” said Michael Reitblat, CEO of Forter. “Many of the anti-fraud companies out there today have over-protective risk management systems that not only turn away fraudsters, but customers, resulting in lost potential revenue. Our one-of-a-kind approach, which we back with a 100 percent chargeback protection program, allows us to accurately assess all transactions, in real time. It saves online merchants time and money, enhances their customers’ experience and unlocks untapped opportunities.”

Ecommerce is growing at an incredible rate—15 percent year-over-year, according to eMarketer, a leading online retail analytics firm.  Parallel to ecommerce’s growth is ecommerce fraud, which, according to Cybersource, a credit card payment processing company, reached an estimated $3.5 billion in 2013, a 0.9 percent fraud rate by revenue. With this threat, online merchants are charged with building and managing their own fraud prevention systems, which are difficult to implement and expensive and tedious to manage, especially those with a manual review process.

According to Cybersource, on average, every merchant is using three to five detection tools to combat ecommerce fraud, and 75 percent of online merchants manually review orders, which they estimate accounts for 52 percent of fraud management budgets. Forter eliminates the need for online retailers to employ multiple tools and a manual review process by doing it automatically.

Forter’s plug-and-play technology automates the review process by instantly analyzing profile data, behavioral data and cyber intelligence, a practice the founders learned as intelligence officers in the Israeli Defense Force. With this, the company is able to accurately decline fraudsters and/or approve consumers, in real time. And, in the rare case that the company is wrong, it covers all fraudulent charges.

“I’m not an ecommerce expert, I’m an online retail expert,” said Dov Mala, owner of 17streetphoto.com, one of Forter’s customers. “With its chargeback guarantee, Forter gives me the confidence to relinquish all fraud responsibilities and concentrate on my business. In addition to the peace of mind it gives me, it’s a huge lift in terms of man-hours. We don’t have to manually analyze transactions, and Forter’s real-time decision-making capabilities have thoroughly enhanced the customer experience.”

Latest