The Weekly Fraudcast

🤠 Vito at Signifyd
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Your weekly one-stop-shop for the most up-to-date insights on ecommerce fraud, hosted by Gena & Vito. Casual. Unfiltered. No marketing or sales pitches. Just great conversation. Join our live weekly sessions! https://www.addevent.com/event/jR23311900

  1. 5D AGO

    The $300K Handbag Heist: How Cybercriminals are Tricking Banks and Bypassing AVS

    The $300K Handbag Heist: Social Engineering, AVS Bypasses, and Invalid Chargebacks What happens when cybercriminals figure out how to trick the banks before they even trick the merchant? In this episode of The Weekly Fraudcast, Vito Petruzzelli dissects a massive, highly coordinated attack where fraudsters stole nearly $300,000 in luxury handbags in just 48 hours. Joined by fraud fighters Jessica Flores, De'Airra Belcher, Jared Gruenberg, Paula Zon, Matthew Blanchard, and more, the team breaks down the exact mechanics of this new threat. We uncover how bad actors are actively calling banks to change billing addresses (making stolen cards pass AVS perfectly) and using remote-access social engineering to hijack devices. More importantly, the panel drops a massive revelation: If you are paying for Account Takeover (ATO) chargebacks, you might be getting scammed twice. We reveal the specific Visa and Mastercard reason codes that prove banks are actually liable for these losses—not merchants. Key Takeaways: The anatomy of the $300K luxury proxy-IP scam.How to spot a "perfect" address match when the victim is in another state.How to use Visa/Mastercard rules to push back on invalid ATO chargebacks.Join the "Fraudcast" Community:Want the cheat sheets, PDF breakdowns, and tactical resources mentioned in these episodes? We don't put them behind corporate landing pages—we drop them directly to our community. 🔗 Connect with Vito on LinkedIn to access the Masterclass resources: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitoatsignifyd/

    50 min

  2. FEB 16

    Chaos Is What You Make Of It (w/ Shelley Soucy)

    Shelley Soucy went from serving food at Disney World to becoming one of the most skilled fraud investigators in e-commerce. Her journey reveals the unexpected skills that translate from high-pressure restaurant work to conducting hundreds of fraud interviews.In this conversation, Shelley breaks down her transition from Disney's Magic Kingdom restaurants to managing loss prevention at Peloton. She explains how working in chaos taught her to stay calm under pressure, why she approaches every interview like a human conversation, and the mindset shifts that helped her excel in a field where validation is rare.Shelley discusses the reality of working in fraud prevention - from dealing with Monday morning quarterbacks to explaining opportunity costs to executives who prefer revenue promises over loss prevention. She shares practical advice on building confidence, asking for feedback, and why treating people with respect matters even in difficult conversations.Key topics covered:[00:00] Intro[02:25] From English lit to Disney restaurants[03:44] The career pivot that changed everything[05:32] Teaching interview skills vs domain knowledge[08:15] Restaurant chaos builds unshakeable confidence[11:22] Chaos is what you make of it[13:27] Learning through active listening and feedback[17:05] Fighting impostor syndrome with self belief[20:44] Disney to e commerce fraud transition[24:25] Learning fraud prevention bite by bite[28:43] Fraud teams never get external validation[33:32] Steeling yourself against Monday morning quarterbacks[39:18] Teaching marketing teams to think like fraudsters[41:37] Five percent fraud loss is expected not acceptable[46:25] Doing the right thing without recognition[49:33] Be the loudest voice in the roomThe discussion covers active listening techniques, the fraud triangle concept, and Shelley’s amazing career journey. She explains how restaurant experience at Disney prepared her for investigative work and why chaos management became her superpower.Connect with Shelley Soucy on LinkedIn to continue the conversation about fraud prevention, investigative techniques, and career transitions.Subscribe for more conversations with fraud prevention professionals sharing real-world insights and career advice.

    53 min

  3. FEB 7

    "Agentic Commerce" Really Means "Search Has Changed -- Forever"

    The reality of agentic commerce in 2025 is nothing like the hype promised. While everyone expected AI shopping agents to revolutionize Black Friday and Cyber Monday with 10-20% of traffic, what actually happened was a massive spike in AI search referrals, not autonomous purchasing. Vito Petruzzelli breaks down why agent commerce conversion rates remain terrible, taking 30+ minutes for simple purchases that often get declined by fraud systems anyway. The real story is how search behavior has fundamentally shifted - consumers now use ChatGPT to find deals and get referred to merchant sites, rather than having bots make purchases for them. Key topics covered: [00:00] Intro [02:42] Hollywood’s Ben Li [04:31] Miss Dee challenges customer service thinking [05:45] Fraud companies face duplication concerns [07:12] Weekly fraud risk discussion format [09:02] Agent commerce reality check begins [11:14] Eating crow on AI hype [12:11] Moltbook AI bots create existential crisis [14:30] Robots hire humans for tasks [16:03] Agent commerce theory versus reality [18:40] Cooper Flagg jersey purchase fails [20:32] The one Fraudcast episode you have to go back and listen to [21:05] Referral traffic spikes thirteen times [22:30] ChatGPT dominates AI search referrals [25:40] Discoverability challenges for merchants [26:12] Search patterns fundamentally shift away [31:31] Machine learning evaluates AI signals [35:07] Payment instruments determine everything, ultimately [38:53] Eight questions cross entire company [43:05] Manual review tags agent orders [45:07] Victim assisted fraud on steroids [47:12] Sleepy robot callers spotted [49:34] Granular segmentation provides fraud protection [51:22] Next week’s special guest runs a school of communications The episode reveals the technical hurdles still blocking agent commerce, from PCI compliance issues to the challenges of exposing product catalogs to AI scrapers. Vito demonstrates how ChatGPT dominates AI referral traffic while other platforms like Claude and Gemini barely register. For fraud professionals, this means understanding new signals like unusual screen resolutions, hosting IPs from Virginia data centers, and bot strings in device APIs. The conversation covers how to segment this traffic, run A/B tests through manual review, and prepare for a world where discovery happens through AI agents even if purchasing remains manual. The discussion includes practical advice on testing your own website with ChatGPT's agent mode, identifying the signals these orders create, and building internal conversations around the eight critical questions every company needs to answer about agent commerce readiness.

    53 min

  4. JAN 30

    The Mustard Stain That Exposed a Pavlovian Return Scam

    Banking fraud specialist De'Airra Belcher joins the Fraudcast community of experts to expose the hidden vulnerabilities in gift card systems and return policies that fraudsters exploit daily. From embedded gift cards at Dollar Tree to sophisticated return abuse schemes, this conversation reveals the shocking gaps between different industries that bad actors use to their advantage. De'Airra brings 10 years of banking experience and 5 years in fraud prevention, sharing her expertise in pattern recognition and her mission to break down the silos that enable fraud across industries. The discussion covers everything from gift card tampering and social engineering targeting elderly victims to the real-world case of a customer who used return policies to game the system. Key topics covered: [00:00] Intro [01:09] Breaking down banking fraud silos [03:21] Hidden gift card tampering schemes [05:26] Open loop products fuel scams [09:18] Gift card draining prevention tactics [12:02] Why intentional disruption drives change [15:33] Fraudsters broadcast their own playbooks [18:06] Open source intelligence gathering methods [26:36] Real world return abuse patterns [32:13] Withholding instant refunds stops abuse [36:46] Aggressive customers target support teams [37:51] Call center training prevents policy erosion [43:53] Legacy thinking perpetuates fraud vulnerabilities [44:23] Customer satisfaction scores enable abuse [45:09] Why customers are never always right Paula from the gift card industry provides insider knowledge on open loop products, PCI compliance, and the evolution toward chip-enabled cards by 2027. Ryan McDonald from ScopeNow demonstrates how fraudsters openly share their methodologies on social media and dark web forums, turning their own bragging into actionable intelligence for fraud prevention teams. The conversation also tackles the systemic issues in customer service training that inadvertently enable fraud, including how satisfaction scores and commission structures incentivize representatives to bypass security policies. Shelly challenges the outdated "customer is always right" mentality, arguing that some customers act purely in their own interests regardless of business impact. The episode concludes with practical strategies for fraud prevention teams to collaborate with legal departments, update legacy policies, and implement data-driven approaches to return fraud detection. Learn how one merchant stopped instant refunds for suspicious customers and maintained loyalty while eliminating abuse. Subscribe for more fraud prevention insights and join the conversation in our Slack community.

    47 min

  5. JAN 26

    How 19 Customers Stole $1.4 Million Through Returns

    What if you could start with the answers instead of drowning in spreadsheets when returns fraud hits your business? This episode reveals how AI and large language models can flip your investigation process completely backwards - starting from the headline impact and drilling down to individual bad actors. Vito Petruzzelli demonstrates a revolutionary approach to returns analysis that cuts through the traditional export-pivot-table nightmare. Instead of getting buried in hundreds of thousands of rows of data while the landscape shifts around you, see how you can instantly identify high-value customers against those responsible for abusive returns. The conversation digs deep into practical policy enforcement challenges with insights from fraud fighters across different industries. Shelley Soucy shares her battle-tested approach to separating legitimate "dressing room at home" shoppers from malicious actors, including her tiered restock fee strategy and instant refund restrictions. Key topics covered: [00:00] Intro [03:37] Why AI prevents analysis paralysis [06:05] The fraud investigation spreadsheet trap [11:05] Reframe returns using reverse engineering [14:53] Customer lifetime value drives decisions [16:10] Start with headlines not spreadsheets [18:06] Damaged item patterns reveal logistics issues [21:30] Finding high dollar return outliers [24:52] Building workflows for repeat offenders [28:31] Where to draw bad actor lines [32:01] Intent matters more than return rates [34:33] Instant refund thresholds save money [37:03] Calculating the perfect restock fee [40:23] Percentage based return fees work better [44:39] Moving beyond cart approval queues Matthew Blanchard raises the critical question every business faces - where do you draw the line between good customers and bad actors? The discussion explores percentage-based fees, customer lifetime value calculations, and the psychology behind pricing thresholds that actually work. Justin Hicken breaks down a sophisticated returns management system, including membership programs that waive return fees for loyal customers while maintaining strict oversight of serial returners. Learn how to move beyond order-by-order approval decisions and start tackling the bigger revenue optimization opportunities that make you indispensable to leadership. This isn't about becoming better at declining transactions - it's about becoming the strategic problem solver your company needs.

    47 min

  6. JAN 17

    Returns Cost You 20% of Holiday Sales

    Welcome to 2026 and the brutal reality of post-holiday returns. We're diving deep into the $181 billion problem that's already hit ecommerce this year, with returns spiking 10% higher than last year and nearly 20% of all holiday sales coming back through your door. Shelley Soucy from Peloton shares her incredible detective work uncovering a $300,000 returns fraud ring, including one customer who returned $275,000 worth of products over 5 years while reselling everything on Poshmark. She walks through the technical glitches fraudsters exploited and the multi-platform solution her team built to catch future abuse. From bracketers and impulse regret to sophisticated AI-generated damage photos, we cover the full spectrum of returns challenges hitting your business right now. You'll learn about freight forwarding fraud, the economics driving returns abuse, and why your standard operating procedures need serious enforcement upgrades. Key topics covered: [00:00] Intro [01:52] Holiday break work challenges [04:17] Medical drama recommendations [06:39] Freight forwarding fraud tactics [09:05] Northern Canada fitness fraud [10:31] Stranger Things finale debate [12:57] Freight forwarding prevention methods [16:59] Lululemon fraud expertise joins [18:38] Returns data requires expert analysis [20:05] 181 billion holiday returns processed [22:32] Bracketing drives return abuse [24:26] Amazon dirt box scam [26:07] AI generates fake damage photos [27:38] Standard operating procedures fail [29:01] Customer lifetime value matters most [31:49] Shopify glitch exposes fraud ring [34:04] 275k returns from single address [36:22] Automated fraud detection parameters [37:26] Happy accidents reveal fraud patterns Rinsha Barde from Lululemon joins the conversation with her 10 years of fraud experience across Capital One, T-Mobile, and now retail. Jessica Flores shares her returns challenges at Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply, while Jamie Ceccato discusses the operational nightmare of post-holiday volume spikes. This isn't just about fraud detection anymore - you're revenue optimizers now. The data-driven approach Shelley demonstrates shows exactly how to quantify losses, build cross-platform solutions, and turn your returns process from a cost center into a competitive advantage. Whether you're dealing with empty boxes, fake damage claims, or sophisticated reseller networks, this episode gives you the framework to tackle returns fraud systematically while protecting your legitimate customers. Subscribe for more fraud prevention insights and join our community at signifyd.com to continue the conversation.

    40 min

  7. 12/22/2025

    The Floating Rock Philosophy That's Changing Fraud Fighting (w/ Emma Linnane)

    Emma Linnane breaks down her unconventional path from radio broadcaster to fraud operations manager, revealing why customer service experience is the secret weapon most fraud fighters are missing. In this final episode of 2025, Emma shares her proven red box method for winning chargeback disputes, explains how she uses Facebook to catch first-party fraudsters through family connections, and discusses the cultural differences between fraud patterns in America versus Europe. From her early days getting hit with Visa fines to developing open source investigation techniques that save thousands in chargebacks, Emma demonstrates how understanding the customer experience transforms fraud detection. She reveals why friendly fraud makes up 60-70% of disputes and how proper documentation can flip those outcomes. Key topics covered: [00:00] Intro [03:46] Ireland to Boston fraud journey [08:17] Customer service builds fraud expertise [11:20] Answer first communication strategy [14:10] Chargeback hunting becomes career foundation [16:56] Red boxes face AI disruption [18:02] Europe versus America fraud differences [22:05] Cultural bias in customer service [26:18] Social engineering through kindness works [30:26] First party fraud detection methods [33:17] Open source intelligence investigation tactics [37:00] Chargeback response time allocation [39:52] Return fraud exceeds payment fraud [41:06] Floating rock burnout perspective Emma also discusses the future of fraud fighting in 2026, including the rise of return fraud potentially surpassing payment fraud, how AI will change chargeback representations, and why VAMP guidelines will reshape risk management strategies. Her closing message reminds us that while fraud work is intense, maintaining perspective on what really matters prevents burnout and keeps teams effective long-term. Connect with Emma Linnane on LinkedIn to learn more about her fraud fighting techniques and follow Signifyd for more fraud prevention insights. Subscribe for weekly fraud industry discussions and expert interviews that help you stay ahead of emerging threats.

    45 min

  8. 12/15/2025

    The Red Box Trick That Wins 98% of Fraud Disputes

    The post-holiday fraud season is in full swing and fraudsters are getting creative with their attacks. Ecommerce and hospitality businesses are facing sophisticated social engineering schemes where bad actors call customer service pretending to be corporate, manipulate hotel staff into processing fake refunds, and exploit account takeovers to redirect orders to new addresses. This episode covers the latest fraud trends hitting businesses right after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Experts share real cases including a coordinated attack on over 400 Hyatt hotels where scammers convinced night operators to process unmatched refunds totaling thousands of dollars. The discussion reveals how fraudsters are using QQ.com email addresses and specific tactics to bypass fraud filters, particularly targeting high-value items like Lululemon jackets and Apple AirPods. The conversation dives deep into practical solutions including how one company achieved a 98% chargeback win rate using red boxes and clear documentation, why legal teams are more effective than engineering for implementing fraud prevention measures, and the hidden benefits of 3D Secure for subscription businesses. Key topics covered: [00:00] Intro [03:04] Account takeover email hijacking surge [08:07] Replacement shipping address fraud pattern [12:26] Corporate impersonation hotel system breach [16:24] Hospitality social engineering vulnerability training [20:19] Payment network expertise across verticals [23:30] Holiday season emotional manipulation tactics [24:49] QQ email domain fraud spike [28:08] Package weight verification breakthrough [32:28] Subscription chargeback defense strategy wins [36:00] Red box documentation game changer [41:39] Legal team fraud prevention leverage [45:47] Three D Secure recurring billing protection Industry professionals from companies like Signifyd, Peloton, and various hospitality brands share their frontline experiences dealing with account takeovers, subscription fraud, and the emotional manipulation tactics fraudsters use against customer service teams during high-stress periods. Learn how to protect your business from the evolving fraud landscape and why the traditional approaches to fighting chargebacks are failing. Subscribe for weekly fraud prevention insights and join the Slack community for real-time fraud intelligence sharing.

    49 min
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About

Your weekly one-stop-shop for the most up-to-date insights on ecommerce fraud, hosted by Gena & Vito. Casual. Unfiltered. No marketing or sales pitches. Just great conversation. Join our live weekly sessions! https://www.addevent.com/event/jR23311900

Information

  • Creator
    🤠 Vito at Signifyd
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    30
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 🤠 Vito at Signifyd
  • Show Website
    The Weekly Fraudcast