December 16, 2015 - Melissa Data, a leading provider of global contact data quality and integration solutions, today announced its technology is helping e-retailers reduce fraud losses. Using Personator, Melissa Data's identity verification tool, merchants can determine if a customer is who they say they are, a critical challenge in preventing fraud and its associated costs. Personator reduces fraud by cross-validating key pieces of data in real-time, including shipping and billing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, geocoding and optional IP geolocation. Armed with this knowledge, retailers can opt to stop fulfillment, call the customer for additional information, or proceed with the order.

While the National Retail Federation predicts a 3.7% increase in online shopping during November and December - higher than the 10-year average of 2.5% - the corresponding increase in fraud cuts into profits and smooth business operations. Illustrated in this infographic, merchants pay as much as $3.10 for every dollar of fraud loss incurred, including replacement costs and associated fees. "We're helping merchants balance these issues with an affordable, easy-to-implement solution," said Bud Walker, Vice President of Enterprise Sales and Strategy, Melissa Data. "By authenticating customer identity in seamless steps, Personator not only reduces fraud but also improves shipping times to customers when addresses are accurate, which in turn helps increase customer satisfaction."

Personator acts as a 'data quality firewall' by cross-validating data the instant a customer submits an order. Information is compared against multiple databases to determine the validity and authenticity of the information provided - ultimately benefitting e-retailers with reduced chargebacks and address correction fees. Billing and shipping phone numbers, email addresses, and contact names are verified as correct; shipping and billing addresses are also verified, corrected and standardized to USPS® mailing addresses. Personator also provides geocoding to identify when a credit card is from a high risk country, and merchants have the additional option of verifying the shopper's IP address.

Personator is available as a cloud service, or as a plugin for popular CRM and data management platforms including Salesforce®, Microsoft® Excel®, Microsoft SQL Server®, Pentaho®. For more information on Personator capabilities and specific use cases, click here to download the full report titled "Fraud Prevention for E-Commerce Merchants" in the latest issue of Melissa Data Magazine, or call 1-800-MELISSA (635-4772) to request a free trial of Personator.