As risky as it gets - Ohad Samet's weblog

Signifyd launches its Risk Management and Fraud Prevention training program

2012-05-17T16:26:00.001-07:00

One of the questions I get asked regularly is "where do I learn more about fraud and risk management for payments?". I usually recommend the MRC and an eBook called "Detecting Malice" for first...

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What's Missing in Data Science Talks

2012-04-10T21:06:00.004-07:00

On January 28th, 2008, the $169M sale of Israeli FraudSciences to eBay's payments division PayPal was publicly announced. I was part of the 65 person crew and head of the analytics group at the time....

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The "New PayPal": two things to note when thinking about PayPal's latest moves

2012-03-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today PayPal announced a new digital wallet following announcements about supporting offline retailers, improving its mobile app and others, as well as PayPal Here, its new Square competitor. This...

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A quick point about buyer psychology

2011-12-21T22:43:00.000-08:00

There are multiple things I need to worry about beyond just fire fighting, but the thing I keep getting back to is users' mindset and how we are impacted by it. It fascinates me to what extent and...

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What I Hoped Would Be Announced At Innovate2011

2011-11-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

Late post, I know. Hyper-growth life (yes, that was a #humblebrag). I went to x.commerce (ex-PayPalX-Innovate) to check on industry trends, meet friends and exchange ideas. I didn't have huge...

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Identity Theft - Whose Problem is it?

2011-11-07T22:40:00.000-08:00

With Fraud Awareness Week happening this week, one of the main things I hear about (apart for, obviously ZEUSZEUSHACKEDMACHINESFRAUDZEUS) is identity theft and ways to deal with it. I wrote in the...

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Klarna is looking for a Manager of Risk Forecasting and Analytics

2011-09-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

Trying to purchase something online is still far from a perfect experience. Not only are you taken through a tedious sign-up process, you’re also expected to trust the merchant and pay them before...

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Why is the blog unattended?

2011-09-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

It's because I'm head down with the team at Klarna, working to build a really awesome user experience and payments product. I have a few posts cooking, but this one's going to be a rather slow...

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Beyond NFC and coupons: is there real value in payments?

2011-07-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

If there's anything I can honestly say about the latest talks about payments, offers and connectivity technology (read: NFC) is that I am underwhelmed. I have voiced my opinion about NFC before, but...

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My Favorite Two Tips for New Risk Teams

2011-06-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I get to talk to companies either going into payments or having to deal with the effects of risk and fraud in payments. Usually that's a good sign - you need to be big enough to...

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Come Reinvent Payments with Us – Klarna is looking for Decision Analysts

2011-06-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

Trying to purchase something is still far from a perfect experience, especially online. Not only are you taken through a tedious sign-up process, you’re also expected to trust the merchant and pay...

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The Google-PayPal showdown

2011-05-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

In late January of this year Osama Bedier, PayPal’s VP of New Ventures has moved to Google, where he now serves as VP of Payments. Today Google announced the Google Wallet, an initiative to bind...

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Risk Management for Risky Times - a Deck

2011-05-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

I'm embedding the slides from a presentation I gave at Amazon lately. A great group of professional risk folks! Risk management for risky timesView more presentations from Ohad Samet.

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Klarna acquires Analyzd

2011-05-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

Today we've announced that Klarna has acquired Analyzd, our payment risk consulting firm. This is an exciting step for me, as I will be assuming the chief risk officer position for a company whom I...

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PayPal's Weaknesses, and Who Can Exploit Them

2011-04-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

I'm reposting my TC post. I'd rather have a less controversial title as I think the post itself is pretty balanced. 2011 is going to be a big year for payments, with more startups and mature...

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Why PayPal should buy WePay

2011-04-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

Last week a big discussion broke out on HN about WePay's last prank. This isn't their first - they pulled one on PayPal in the latter's X conference last year, winning them TechCrunch...

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The payment market is in replay mode

2011-03-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

I sometimes stand dumbfounded at how history tends to repeat itself. Seems like no-one in the leading banks and card companies and their peers has had the time to read and process archives about the...

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Knowing where you're going: roles in payments and how your company fits in

2011-03-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

Several months back I wrote about archetypes of players in the payments ecosystem. The post got some replies that objected to its proposed division of the ecosystem for various reasons; the most...

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While trying to go after Square, VeriFone shows its lack of mojo

2011-03-09T13:52:00.000-08:00

"THIS JUST IN: YOUR SERVER AT A RESTAURANT CAN STEAL YOUR CC#, CCV and EXP!!!!!" @ethank Public blows to competitors' brands are acceptable, especially if you're a long time contender who sees its...

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Apple, Google and the future of the payments market

2011-03-07T08:30:00.001-08:00

A post I wrote about domination of the payments market and the largest players in it is live on TechCrunch (here). Happy reading!

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Fraud prevention for small merchants - an interview

2011-02-07T11:54:00.000-08:00

Last week I gave an interview at http://www.ecommerceangles.com, a blog dedicated to small merchants. I really like this market and I also think Mike is doing an amazing job maintaining this...

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PayPal Digital Goods Risk Management Talk is Live

2010-12-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

I gave a risk management talk with a few other risk experts in PayPal's Innovate convention last October. The video is now live and can be found here. There is also a risk best practices guide...

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Merchant fraud: a Nasty Little Secret

2010-10-30T15:54:00.001-07:00

Over the years we’ve been accustomed to talk about risk from buyers. The paradigm was simple: established and new businesses go to ecommerce to go global, expand reach and sell more conveniently to...

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Smart risk management: why the "factory" approach could bring you down

2010-10-20T00:23:00.000-07:00

If you deal with payments in any shape or form, you know you’re going to end up with a “risk management” team. A lot of times it creeps up on you: volume picks up and so you know you need someone to...

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Data Myths: The Misconception of Intuitive Decisions

2010-09-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

A lot of the discussions I hear about data and analytics revolve around what and how to measure, and many interesting startups deal with creating new data sources. We deal with clicks, interactions,...

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