How AMSOIL Stopped Triangulation Fraud Without Sacrificing High-Value Orders

AMSOIL Needed to Stop Triangulation Fraud Without Blocking Legitimate Customers

Triangulation fraud is difficult to identify because the transactions look surprisingly normal.

Here’s how it works:

• A fraudster lists merchandise through an online marketplace or other storefront. In AMSOIL’s case, products were being listed on Amazon and eBay.
• Unsuspecting consumers purchase products from those marketplaces.
• The fraudsters use stolen payment credentials from another party to buy items directly from the business.
• The fraudster ships the product from the manufacturer to the legitimate end customers.

The fraudster would walk away with the money the real customer paid through Amazon or eBay in this scenario, and the individual whose credit card information was used for the purchase through AMSOIL would file a chargeback.

Many elements of these transactions appeared valid from AMSOIL’s perspective because there was a customer making an order with a valid shipping address. The manipulation was happening elsewhere in the transaction chain, making this type of fraud harder to catch with simple rules.

AMSOIL also had to account for the value of its orders because five-figure transactions are appeared normal. Automatically holding or declining large purchases might stop some fraudulent transactions, but it could also block legitimate high-AOV customers who routinely make substantial purchases.

The company needed to make better decisions without sacrificing legitimate revenue related to false declines and order holds.

Why Triangulation Fraud Creates a Growing Challenge for High-AOV Ecommerce Merchants

Triangulation fraud can turn an otherwise legitimate ecommerce transaction into a target for organized fraud. The potential financial impact is significant, too.

For instance, in a 2024 interview with Help Net Security, Mike Lemberger, Visa's former SVP, Chief Risk Officer for North America, stated that triangulation fraud causes between $660 million and $1 billion in merchant losses per month.

Merchants end up on the hook for these losses because credit card holders will issue chargebacks when they realize they’ve been victimized.

Companies that frequently approve high-value ecommerce orders are often targeted because fraudsters can make significant profits on a single transaction. These large orders aren’t out of the ordinary, so they don’t receive additional scrutiny.

Fraud prevention has to account for these sophisticated schemes without treating every unusual or expensive transaction as inherently suspicious, which is the challenge for these businesses.

A Fraud Approach Built Around AMSOIL's Risk Profile

AMSOIL chose ClearSale Complete Decision with Chargeback Guarantee as a solution. This fraud-detection method combines AI-powered order screening with review by human fraud specialists, so it leave nothing to chance.

ClearSale never relies on a one-size-fits-all ruleset and designed an approach specific to AMSOIL's ecommerce environment and risk profile.

First, ClearSale's technology evaluates transactions for indicators of fraud and analyzes patterns that can help identify suspicious activity. That screening provides a first layer of protection against sophisticated fraud patterns, including activity associated with marketplace-driven and triangulation schemes.

Technology alone doesn't always provide enough context to distinguish a legitimate high-value customer from a sophisticated fraud attempt, though, so ClearSale's fraud specialists review transactions that require additional attention.

That combination adds context to every decision while keeping real customers happy and returning to the company time after time.

Quarter-Over-Quarter High Approval Rates

AMSOIL now has:

• Protection against sophisticated fraud patterns without relying on blunt transaction-value rules
• Confidence in approving legitimate high-value orders
• Consistent approval and chargeback performance through multiple quarters
• Protection against fraud losses with the ClearSal Chargeback Guarantee

The results show why maintaining the right balance mattered.

Over three consecutive quarters, AMSOIL's approval rate remained in the 99.8% to 99.9% range while its fraudulent chargeback rate continued to fall:

That consistency is particularly significant because AMSOIL was not operating in a period of normal fraud activity. The business was being actively targeted by an organized triangulation fraud pattern, making the job even more challenging.

AMSOIL's experience shows that ecommerce fraud prevention doesn't have to mean declining more orders. Instead, it's possible to make better decisions about what deserves more attention while letting real orders through without delay.

This decision-making ability matters when businesses process high-value orders on a regular basis. A fraud solution should protect revenue from these attacks while allowing legitimate customers to complete purchases without slowing them down. That’s what ClearSale helps provide.

AMSOIL now has a fraud strategy built for how the company actually operates, not one that forces a high-value ecommerce business into a one-size-fits-all approach.