Tracy Brown breaks down the fraud landscape heading into Black Friday and Cyber Monday, revealing why refund abuse has now overtaken chargebacks as the biggest threat to merchants. With fake storefronts up 800% in Q1 and AI about to break traditional fraud detection models, this holiday season is shaping up to be unlike any other.

Tracy shares real-world insights from her 25 years in fraud prevention, covering everything from gift card fraud rings to WhatsApp business scams. She explains why velocity checks are the most forgotten fraud prevention tool and how romance scams are creating unexpected money laundering challenges for merchants.

Key topics covered:

[00:00] Intro

[02:47] Meet Tracy Brown, fraud consultant expert

[04:24] Tracy shifts from merchant council work

[06:55] Why fraud patterns repeat 25 years

[09:43] Essential fraud basics new teams miss

[10:54] Refund abuse overtakes chargeback volume

[11:25] Velocity checks prevent testing attacks

[12:35] Fake storefront fraud up 800 percent

[12:58] AI threatens holiday fraud models

[15:16] Crypto romance scams drive chargebacks

[16:01] Michelle shares fake ad takedown struggles

[18:13] Brand protection squads fight storefront fraud

[19:56] Privacy versus cryptographic identity verification

[22:15] Gift card fraud rings target merchants

[23:08] WhatsApp business scams exploit encrypted messaging

[26:30] Psychology behind falling for modern scams

[30:09] COVID created loneliness vulnerability epidemic

[32:01] Fingerprinting becomes new fraud prevention tool

[33:49] Car club analogy explains security evolution

[37:13] AI breaks traditional fraud detection models

[39:47] This becomes the AI trial year

[40:40] Revenue optimizer beats fraud fighter title

The discussion reveals how COVID created an epidemic of loneliness that made consumers more vulnerable to scams, and why fingerprinting and other traditional fraud signals are becoming less reliable as AI advances. Tracy also explains the psychology behind why people fall for scams and how fraudsters are now targeting demographics beyond traditional vulnerable populations.

For merchants preparing for peak season, Tracy emphasizes the importance of understanding what fraud actually is, preparing for the surge in chargebacks, and monitoring velocity across all customer touchpoints. She warns that this will be the trial year for AI-powered fraud, after which the landscape will fundamentally change.

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