How do you avoid fraud and phishing in your webshop without losing sales? Fraud involving stolen card details and hacked payment forms costs Danish webshops precious revenue every single day.
In fact, DanskErhverv reported that 38% of Danish online stores were targeted by fraud in 2024. The most widespread methods were phishing and the use of stolen credit cards.
Modern fraud prevention is about combining automated security systems, intelligent authentication flows, and quick manual routines. For you as a webshop owner, this means protection against lost revenue, compromised customer trust, and extra costs – without compromising a smooth customer experience.
Here are 7 specific, field-tested tips to protect your webshop, secure your transactions, and create peace of mind for your customers.
Important Clarification: Difference Between Attacks on Your Shop and Order Fraud
Before we go through the seven tips, it is crucial to distinguish between technical attacks on your platform and order fraud in the checkout flow:
Attack Type
What Happens?
Example
Primary Solution
Technical Attacks & Phishing
Hackers compromise your webshop's code to deceive your customers.
A fake payment form is installed in your checkout to intercept card data.
Basic maintenance, system updates, and test purchases.
Stolen Card Fraud
Fraudsters use stolen card details to complete orders.
Completing purchases on an otherwise secure and fully functioning webshop.
Transaction monitoring, payment fraud detection, and risk-based checks.
The primary tips in this article focus on identifying and stopping fraudulent orders, while technical attacks are handled through ongoing platform maintenance.
1. Learn to Spot Fraudsters' Digital Footprints
Effective transaction monitoring combines strong automated systems with a vigilant, human eye. While automated fraud monitoring (pensopays fraud fighter) via your payment gateway catches the vast majority of threats, you build a strong filter by understanding fraudsters' typical behavior.
Fraudsters almost always leave digital footprints behind. By establishing clear procedures for manual spot checks in your order flow, you can quickly spot red flags before goods are shipped:
Geographic Mismatches
Is the order coming from a country you don't normally do business with? Check if the delivery address is in one country while the customer's IP address shows a completely different location. You can look up IP addresses using tools like IP2Location.
Atypical Order Behavior
Be on guard against orders that are significantly larger than average – especially if it is a first-time customer. Fraudsters often try to maximize value before a stolen card is blocked. Also watch out for multiple rapid purchases from the same customer within a short timeframe.
Mismatched Customer Details
Does the name on the card not match the recipient's name, or are the shipping and billing addresses vastly different for no obvious reason (such as a gift)? That should raise an alarm.
Suspicious Login Activity
Multiple failed login attempts from the same IP address could indicate a brute-force attack. This tactic is often used to take over existing customer accounts.
By checking these patterns within your order flow, you create a robust human filter that complements automated monitoring.
2. Enable 3D Secure and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is a legal requirement for online payments in Europe under the PSD2 directive, protecting both your business and your customers against unauthorized card use.
By requiring two independent factors for card payments (e.g., 3D Secure via digital ID like MitID or SMS codes), the cardholder's identity is verified with high certainty. However, SCA does not apply solely to cards; approvals within the MobilePay app also use two-factor authentication, where access to the phone and the app constitutes security.
3. Use AI and Automated Fraud Detection in Your Payment Gateway
Modern payment fraud detection uses artificial intelligence to analyze millions of transactions in real time so threats are discovered instantly. AI has become one of the newest tools for fraudsters, but it is equally your best defense mechanism.
Instead of blocking all suspicious purchases manually, advanced payment systems utilize risk-based analysis:
Low Risk
For completely normal purchases, standard authentication or a quick exemption is triggered, providing the customer with a frictionless checkout.
High Risk
For transactions with unusual patterns, extra security checks are introduced, or the transaction is automatically declined by the customer's bank.
This ensures that online store safety is maintained behind the scenes without standing in the way of your legitimate sales.
4. Offer Secure and Flexible Payment Methods (MobilePay and Wallets)
Offering a wider variety of modern payment options strengthens your security while simultaneously boosting your conversion rate.
Alternative payment methods such as MobilePay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay feature built-in strong authentication directly on the user's device (e.g., via TouchID, FaceID, or a passcode). When your customers use digital wallets through a professional and well-known payment method, you minimize the risk associated with manual entry of card details.
5. Stay Ahead in a Constantly Evolving Landscape (PSD2 to PSD3)
The fight against fraud is a constant race where legislation is continuously tightened as fraudsters' methods become more advanced. What was secure enough yesterday could be an open door tomorrow.
Where the PSD2 directive made Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and 3D Secure the standard, its successor, PSD3, is already on the horizon. The new directive places even greater emphasis on proactive fraud prevention and tightens security requirements for your payment solution. This includes expanded protection against new forms of fraud such as spoofing, where fraudsters impersonate the customer's bank.
To ensure full compliance, your business should always use updated acquiring agreements and gateways that automatically adapt to legal developments.
6. Protect the Shop Against Technical Attacks and Phishing
To protect your customers from direct phishing attacks and fake payment forms at checkout, the technical foundation of your webshop must be solid:
Keep Everything Updated
Regularly update your e-commerce platform (e.g., WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Magento, or Shopify), as well as all associated plugins and themes. This closes the security vulnerabilities that hackers look for.
Conduct Regular Checks
Periodically make a test purchase to ensure that the payment process looks and functions exactly as it should.
Use an Externally Hosted Payment Form
Ensure card details are entered via a secure payment gateway so sensitive data never touches your own server.
7. Choose a Secure and Flexible Payment Partner
The final and most important piece of advice concerns your payment solution. It is the core of your webshop, and outdated systems can neither handle modern threats nor meet customer expectations.
Instead of assembling and maintaining complex security modules yourself, select a payment partner where proactive protection is built directly into the foundation.
At pensopay, our mission is to safeguard your business. Our platform is built around automated protection 24/7:
3D Secure 2.0
Ensures full compliance with SCA requirements.
Wide Selection of Payment Methods
(MobilePay, Apple Pay, Visa, Mastercard) provides flexibility and peace of mind.
Continuous Risk Assessment
Runs automatically via our fraud fighter, where every transaction is screened so you can avoid fraud and focus on driving growth instead.
What was secure enough yesterday may be an open door for fraudsters tomorrow.
Read more articles and guides from pensopay
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