PayPal, Simility ally against cybercrime

San Jose-based PayPal Holdings Inc. revealed June 21, 2018, that it plans to acquire Simility, a fraud prevention and risk management platform. The purported $120 million transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018. PayPal was an early investor in Simility when it launched in 2014, along with Accel Partners and Trinity Ventures, the company reported.

PayPal representatives said Simility solutions will enhance existing fraud and risk capabilities, a critical need in its expanding global enterprise. Bill Ready, chief operating officer at PayPal, said cyberattacks have become more sophisticated and innovative; merchants need better methods to monitor, detect and mitigate them.

Reinforcing security infrastructure will help PayPal stay ahead of fraudsters while providing best-in-class protections to merchants and service providers, Ready noted. "PayPal has been at the forefront of developing innovative fraud prevention and risk management solutions for nearly 20 years, and now, merchants will be able to configure those solutions to manage the unique complexities of their businesses," he stated. "Together with Simility, we will be able to put more control in the hands of our merchants to fight fraud while helping make commerce experiences faster and more secure."

Rahul Pangam, co-founder and CEO of Simility, expects the merger to help protect organizations from evolving threats in the digital world, adding, "We are excited to enter the next phase of our growth with PayPal and are thrilled to join them to help drive the next generation of payment and commerce solutions while scaling our business together."

Protect merchants

Upon completion of the merger, PayPal merchants will gain fraud tools that can be tailored to their industries and requirements. The following Simility products and services may soon be added to existing account dashboards:

• Machine learning: Dynamic adaptation and trend analysis of each electronic transaction. These adaptive models are programmable, customizable, and include in-session monitoring on mobile apps and browsers.

• New account fraud: Detection, prevention of fraudulent new account activity.

• Referral, promotion abuse: Interception of referral and sign-up offer scams.

• Payment fraud: Detection and alerts for stolen card activity.

• Delivery fraud: Detection and prevention of fraudulent ecommerce, cash-on-delivery orders to fake destinations.

• Device authentication: Verification of devices to prevent buyer/seller collusion, using device risk scores to determine fraud probability.

• Combined artificial, human intelligence: Visual graph analysis and personalized case management highlight relevant information on activity dashboards, reducing manual reviews.

Protect merchant acquirers

Simility representatives said combining human and machine intelligence will also benefit merchant acquirers, by giving them a centralized view of cross-portfolio activity and the ability to react in real time to anomalous activity. They said the solutions will create recurring revenue while providing enhanced insights into merchant portfolios.

Following are some examples:

• Portfolio risk analysis: Dynamically assess fraud trends and risk across portfolio of merchants.

• PayFac, marketplace fraud prevention: Stop fraudsters from setting up fake marketplace seller and sub-merchant accounts, preventing them from accepting payment for fake orders.

• Stolen card fraud interception: Detect stolen payment card activity, preventing both fraud and chargebacks.

• Emerging fraud scheme detection: Detect and stop new forms of fraud from occurring, which may include mobile wallets, merchant account originations and compliance fraud.

"Payment service providers, including payment gateways, acquirers and independent sales organizations that are equipped with state of the art fraud detection tools can provide their merchants with the ability to recognize new fraud vectors as they synthesize," Simility representatives stated.

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