Fraud teams are no longer just fighting chargebacks; they are battling sophisticated logistics rings and AI-powered returns abuse.

In this episode of The Weekly Fraudcast, Vito Petruzzelli and Gena Rivera bring on John Mayover, Senior Manager of Ecommerce Fraud and Compliance at URBN.

John reveals how he accidentally started his 16-year fraud career by solving a puzzle at a bank, leading him to uncover massive operations like the "Cousin Network"—an insider-threat ring at a FedEx hub.

The conversation dives deep into the post-pandemic explosion of returns fraud. John details how bad actors are exploiting "keep it" policies and using AI-generated scripts to socially engineer customer service reps.

He also outlines his "Five Families" framework, proving why cross-departmental unity is the only way to stop modern ecommerce fraud.

👇 WHAT WE COVER:

🔹 The Cousin Network: Uncovering a sophisticated supply chain theft ring involving insider logistics help.

🔹 Returns Abuse Tactics: How fraudsters use dollar-store shirts and iron-on logos to scam generous return policies.

🔹 The AI Threat Reality: Why shopping bots aren't the primary concern for fashion retail, but AI-driven social engineering is.

🔹 The Five Families: Uniting fraud, customer service, warehouse, supply chain, and tech to close communication gaps.

⏳ EPISODE CHAPTERS:00:00 - Intro

03:45 - Accidental fraud career discovery

05:11 - Bank puzzle solving breakthrough

08:37 - Building fraud programs from scratch

10:38 - First major fraud scheme uncovered

12:25 - Cousin conspiracy at Fedex hubs

14:23 - Returns abuse explosion post pandemic

16:45 - Five families collaboration strategy

18:21 - Tech team builds custom dashboards

21:27 - Stakeholder relationship building tactics

24:00 - Technology gaps in fraud detection

26:34 - Systems integration success story

28:36 - Handling rejection and pushback

31:27 - AI commerce current fraud impact

32:36 - Social media monitoring operations

36:21 - Subscription model fraud patterns

38:55 - Future fraud evolution predictions

Join the Fraudcast Ecosystem:

🔗 Connect with Vito on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitopetruzzelli/

🔗 Connect with Gena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gena-rivera/

🔗 Connect with John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-mayover-bb2a33102/

You are likely losing more money to your own fraud rules than to actual fraudsters.

In this episode of The Weekly Fraudcast, Gena Rivera and Stingray Fraud Intelligence founder Jared Gruenberg dissect the most expensive problem in e-commerce: false positives.\

Jared reveals the shocking math behind overly aggressive fraud controls, explaining why false positives cost 4.5x more than actual fraud losses, and why 38% of wrongfully declined buyers never return.

The conversation exposes exactly where AI models fail—struggling with context around college campus addresses, "Buy Online, Pick Up In Store" (BOPIS) orders, and prepaid cards used by the unbanked.

Jared outlines why the human analyst is still the ultimate defense, and how fixing the communication gap between customer service and risk teams can rescue your top-line revenue.

👇 WHAT WE COVER:

🔹 The False Positive Multiplier: Why turning away a legitimate customer damages revenue and long-term brand equity.

🔹 AI's Blind Spots: The specific address normalization issues that cause AI to flag legitimate drop-shipping and university deliveries.

🔹 The Customer Service Disconnect: How broken feedback loops hide false positive patterns from your risk team.

🔹 The Unbanked Dilemma: How standard fraud rules actively discriminate against 25% of Americans relying on prepaid cards.

⏳ EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Intro

02:28 - Jared's fraud journey from behavioral health to live stream auctions

06:06 - Childhood fascination with infomercials and early fraud detection instincts

10:48 - False positives problem hurts good customers more than fraud itself

14:21 - Casio watch false positive terrorism example from 9/11 era

17:55 - Why false positives happen and analyst turnover challenges

20:22 - False positives cost 4.5x more than actual fraud losses

22:53 - Shelley's apparel return abuse investigation false positive nightmare

25:14 - Jamie's customer service feedback loop struggles with false positives

32:46 - Two sided marketplace false positive communication strategies

36:01 - AI vs manual review debate for reducing false positives

40:27 - College campus addresses trigger AI false positive flags

41:10 - Buy online pickup in store creates major AI confusion

44:51 - Shelley's personal Samsung watch auto decline frustration experience

46:25 - FedEx address normalization solution for AI street abbreviation issues

49:48 - University private mailbox AI detection problems explained

51:07 - Drop shipping distributor model creates legitimate transaction red flags

🔗 Connect with Gena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gena-rivera/

🔗 Connect with Jared on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredgruenberg/

Digital wallets are not created equal.

In this episode of The Weekly Fraudcast, Vito Petruzzelli and Gena Rivera dissect the explosive spike in digital wallet fraud hitting merchants right now.

While Apple Pay’s strict biometric verification keeps fraudsters at bay, Google Pay’s lax provisioning rules have led to a shocking fraud rate on its transactions.

Vito and Gena break down how bad actors are rapidly loading stolen credit cards into non-biometric wallets, bypassing legacy fraud detection entirely.

They give you the exact tactical playbook for extracting granular provisioning signals and biometric flags from your payment gateways before AI agents and crypto wallets make the problem worse.

👇 WHAT WE COVER:

🔹 The Digital Wallet Illusion: Why treating Apple Pay and Google Pay equally is a massive operational failure.

🔹 The Digital Wallet Fraud Spike: How fraudsters are exploiting non-biometric provisioning to launder stolen cards.

🔹 Data Dictionary Demands: How to fight your acquiring bank for the underlying wallet data they are hiding from you.

🔹 Future-Proofing: Navigating the emerging risks of cryptocurrency wallets and stable coins.

⏳ EPISODE CHAPTERS:00:00 - Intro03:22 - Digital wallet fraud explosion04:12 - Stolen credit cards in Google Pay08:33 - Google Pay fraud rate revealed11:22 - Provisioning signals for fraud detection14:42 - Requesting data from payment providers16:25 - Firearms industry digital wallet restrictions18:06 - Biometric authentication flags for disputes23:18 - Payment provider transparency challenges28:36 - Issuing vs acquiring bank dynamics32:27 - Fighting payment provider pushback strategies36:18 - Cryptocurrency wallet fraud risks40:24 - Google Pay disabled due to fraud42:50 - Data dictionary requests from providers47:44 - Next week Jared G hosts48:53 - VAMP threshold violations breaking news

🔗 Connect with Vito on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitopetruzzelli/

🔗 Connect with Gena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gena-rivera/

Fraud teams are accidentally turning into revenue killers.

In this episode of The Weekly Fraudcast, Gena, Vito and the Fraudcast community tackle one of the industry's biggest blind spots: rule decay.

Almost one in four rule declines are false positives, meaning legacy rules are actively rejecting your best customers.

Gena and Vito reveal why any rule older than 90 days is a prime candidate for retirement or major revision.

The conversation dives deep into practical solutions, from automated sunset processes to preventing manual review bias, featuring insights from practitioners like Renuka Venkatesan, Matthew Blanchard, and Jessica Flores.

👇 WHAT WE COVER:

🔹 Rule Expiration: Why every fraud rule needs a 90-day sunset clause.

🔹 False Positive Economics: How to calculate the true cost of rejecting good orders.

🔹 Daily Auditing: How Renuka Venkatesan monitors rule performance.

🔹 Cross-Team Collaboration: Why connecting your fraud and chargeback teams reveals critical blind spots.

⏳ EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Intro

02:39 - Ben's TV debut on Yellowstone spinoff

05:40 - Signifyd Slack community highlights

07:50 - Rule decay overview and key insights

09:22 - Rules get old quick problem

10:36 - One in four rule declines are false positives

11:14 - Most teams lack sunset processes

13:07 - 90 day rule expiration recommendation

14:27 - Four considerations for rule audits

16:56 - Immediate action steps for rule management

18:39 - Jessica's rule creation challenges

22:32 - Miss Dee's financial institution tracking advice

23:14 - Matthew's rule refinement strategies

28:16 - Renuka's daily rule monitoring system

34:24 - Avoiding bias in manual review

38:57 - Knowledge preservation challenges

41:37 - Outbound verification call alternatives

47:09 - Preston's charge back team insights

49:46 - Renuka's broadcast community appreciation

52:32 - Final thoughts on rule optimization

🔗 Connect with Gena on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gena-rivera/

🔗 Connect with Vito on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitopetruzzelli/

Account takeover attacks have surged 40% over the past year, as bad actors increasingly target loyalty points and stored payment methods.

In this episode of The Weekly Fraudcast, Vito Petruzzelli and Gena Rivera tackle one of e-commerce's fastest-growing threats.

They break down how fraudsters are spinning up typosquatting domains and exploiting accounts that have been dormant for over a year.

Vito shares six empirical signals you can use to fingerprint account takeover attempts, including tracking password reset timing and measuring device fingerprint "lie counts".

Katarina, Thomas, Deanne, and Shelley also share real-world challenges covering everything from fake police reports to freight forwarding schemes.

👇 WHAT WE COVER:

🔹 Dormant Account Danger: Why inactive accounts represent 92% of ATO fraud.

🔹 The "Lie Count" Metric: How device fingerprinting discrepancies expose deliberate obfuscation.

🔹 Tactical Defense: Using pre-discount order amounts and SMS friction to block bad actors.

🔹 NPS Manipulation: How fraud rings are gaming customer satisfaction scores to hide their tracks.

⏳ EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Intro

02:29 - Account Takeover Fraud Rising 40 Percent

05:36 - Loyalty Points and Stored Value Under Attack

08:12 - Death of Single Signal Supremacy

11:05 - 148 Typosquat Domains Found for One Brand

13:45 - 6 Key Signals to Fingerprint ATO

17:46 - PayPal Hit Hard by Account Takeovers

20:24 - Fake Police Reports and Chargeback Challenges

26:29 - Pre Discount Order Amount Strategy

29:00 - 80 Orders Per IP During ATO Attacks

33:02 - Adding Friction Without Hurting NPS

36:23 - Freight Forwarding Address Problems

40:52 - Free ATO Analysis Consultation Offer

44:00 - Gift Card Fraud Ring Tactics

46:02 - Next Week Preview on Gift Cards

🔗 Connect with Vito on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitopetruzzelli/

Traditional fraud tools are officially failing.

In this episode of The Weekly Fraudcast, Gena and Vito dissect a massive fraud ring out of Connecticut that bypassed legacy verification systems entirely.

By hijacking an account that had been dormant for 879 days, fraudsters unleashed 11 rapid-fire orders using the exact same credit card.

Because the AVS and CVV matched perfectly, rule-based models let the attacks right through.

Vito breaks down how behavioral analytics caught what traditional tools missed, highlighting critical signals like device hopping, IP switching, and resale arbitrage patterns.

👇 WHAT WE COVER:

🔹 The Connecticut Case: Why perfect AVS matches are fraud's best friend.

🔹 Behavioral Drift: Spotting the difference between good customers and bad actors switching devices mid-session.

🔹 Telegram Intelligence: Using tools like Scope Now to safely investigate the dark web.

🔹 Strategic Friction: Why wiping stored payment cards is a highly effective defense.

⏳ EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Intro

03:37 - Gratitude and Community Engagement

04:01 - Matthew's Conference Speaking Experience

08:03 - Connecticut Fraud Ring Discovery

09:08 - Behavioral Analytics Over AVS Matching

14:29 - Account Takeover and Telegram Channels

16:51 - Scope Now for Fraud Investigation

23:01 - AVS Limitations and Chargeback Challenges

26:37 - Customer Verification Phone Tactics

28:41 - 3D Secure Implementation Benefits

31:10 - Address Verification System Nuances

35:13 - International Orders Without AVS

38:33 - Selective Friction Implementation Strategies

40:03 - Justin's Travel Updates

41:27 - Community Growth and Team Building

🔗 Connect with Vito on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitopetruzzelli/

While the industry panics about future AI bots, the real threat is draining wallets right now.

We are broadcasting live from the floor of the Merchant Risk Council (MRC) 2026 conference in Las Vegas.

In this episode, Gena and Vito cut through the hype to address the $86 billion consumer scam crisis that is destroying brand trust before customers even reach your checkout page.

It is time to reframe how we think about the manual review queue.

Fraud analysts aren't being replaced—they are being upgraded. Vito breaks down how elite fraud leaders are pivoting their teams away from repetitive transactional decisions and turning them into strategic threat intelligence hunters.

By using AI tools like Claude to handle the heavy lifting of brand protection, human analysts are freed up to investigate complex false positives and build critical relationships across the business.

👇 WHAT WE COVER:

🔹 The $86B Crisis: Why consumer scams are your problem, even if they happen off-platform.

🔹 The AI Pivot: How to use Claude to automate dark web sweeps, catch typosquatting, and issue takedowns.

🔹 The Analyst Upgrade: Reappropriating human talent for strategic thinking rather than manual busywork.

⏳ EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Intro: Live from the Floor of MRC Vegas '26

05:15 - The $86 Billion Consumer Scam Crisis

12:30 - Why Nobody is Seeing a Wave of AI Agent Traffic Yet

21:45 - The Evolution of the Manual Review Queue

32:10 - Using Claude for Threat Intelligence & Brand Protection

41:20 - Becoming the Ultimate Fraud Educator for Your Network

48:20 - Outro: The Next Generation of Risk Teams

🔗 Connect with Vito on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitopetruzzelli/

Are you tired of hearing that AI bots are going to ruin e-commerce? So are we.

In this episode of The Weekly Fraudcast, Vito Petruzzelli sits down with Jonathon Hope, Head of Product at Kasada, to cut through the hype and deliver a pragmatic, actionable guide to preparing for Agentic Commerce. They discuss how to actually see the AI traffic hitting your site and how to differentiate a helpful shopping assistant from a malicious script.

The duo explains why you don't have to choose between security and discovery. By implementing smart governance, you can allow AI agents to index your products while keeping your checkout and login endpoints strictly secured. This episode is your blueprint for navigating the future of retail without the panic.

Key Takeaways:

• Visibility First: How to read headers and identify true AI traffic.
• Smart Governance: Strategies for allowing product discovery while blocking automated account creation or checkout.
• The Reality Check: Why the transition to full Agentic Commerce is a multi-year evolution, giving you time to prepare.

Episode Chapters:

00:00 - Intro: Welcome to The Fraudcast
04:00 - Introducing Jonathon Hope & The Agentic Commerce Reality
07:10 - Identifying AI Agents vs. Spoofed Headers
11:20 - Visibility 101: What Even is a Header?
18:00 - How AI Traffic Impacts Account Takeovers (ATO)
22:30 - The Governance Strategy: Allowing Search vs. Allowing Checkout
34:00 - How to Start Controlling Your AI Traffic Today
42:10 - Prompt Injection Risks and the Future of AI Browsers
46:40 - Outro: You Are the Vanguard of Agentic Commerce

🔗 Connect with Vito on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitopetruzzelli/

🔗 Connect with Jonathon Hope on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathonhope/

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/vitopetruzzelli/

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.

Episode Chapters:

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 room

The Chaos Superpower:

The 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: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleysoucy/

🔗 Connect with Vito on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitopetruzzelli/