How Tripster increased bookings while reducing fraud
In the travel industry, fraudsters know how to fly under the radar of retailers. From fake online travel agent platforms (OTAs) to loyalty program scams, new fraud MOs constantly emerge, posing a significant risk to revenue, customer trust, and brand reputation. As the industry expands, legitimate ticketing platforms face the challenge of reviewing thousands of orders, making manual checks unfeasible while striving to prevent fraudsters from evading standard fraud prevention measures.
The Riskified team sat down with Tripster CEO John Johnson for a Q&A to understand Tripster’s fraud challenges and how they tackled them. This blog explores how Riskified’s automation boosted bookings while reducing overall risk. It offers valuable insights for anyone looking to enhance fraud prevention and grow their business.
MEET TRIPSTER
Founded in 2001, Tripster is a travel booking platform that allows users to find the best deals on vacation packages and attractions. By partnering directly with top experiences and accommodations in the U.S. and Canada, Tripster transforms the often overwhelming and costly process of travel planning into a seamless one. Tripster partners with thousands of providers to provide a broad range of planning options and exclusive deals for its over 1.8 million users.
Q: What specific challenge(s) were you looking to solve? And how did the problem(s) make you feel?
John: As Tripster continued to expand and become more accessible and popular, we became a target for fraud. With over 100,000 transactions annually, we were processing bookings at a rate too high to scrutinize each charge’s validity beyond common CVV/AVS checks provided by merchant processing. The burden of fraud management internally was exhausting for our staff and draining on our resources.
Q: What made you choose to partner with Riskified?
John: Riskified’s data-driven solution provided the added checks needed to keep up with volume without deterring sales with delays and protecting charges. Moreover, offering a guarantee that if the risk was accepted, they would back it was key.
Q: How did Riskified help you solve your fraud challenge(s)?
John: Riskified’s solution seamlessly added extra security without disrupting the consumer checkout flow. Riskified’s predictability stopped fraud at checkout. The backend tools provide details related to each capture or decline, which is very helpful in our consumer management.
Q: How was the process for getting started?
John: Plugging in the tool and learning the dashboard was extremely easy. I do not recall any hiccups in the process.
CEO, Tripster
To date, the cost of an advanced fraud prevention tool like Riskified has been better for our company compared to the risk of taking on fraud.
Q: How is the service you received over the course of the relationship?
John: For five years, Riskified has enabled Tripster to confidently grow its business while protecting 100% of the transaction volume, successfully blocking $14.4 million in fraud.
Although we have occasionally experienced fluctuations in approvals, the team has been willing to re-analyze our consumer data to improve it each time. Riskified keeps refining its algorithms to maximize approvals and minimize fraud.
Q: When did you start seeing results since going live with Riskified?
John: The solution is instant. Riskified refines the decision algorithms over time, but fraud is identified almost immediately.
Q: How are you measuring the success of this relationship? What are the KPIs and metrics that highlight your experience with Riskified?
John: For Tripster, it’s a balance between reaching the highest number of approved transactions and the least amount of risk. The key highlight is that with Riskified, we manage to maintain a high approval rate, keeping fraud to a minimum. Adding the right balance of friction at checkout has helped Tripster stop fraud at scale without deterring the experience of good customers.
Q: What has changed since you started working with Riskified?
John: Fraud, fraud, fraud… Our fraud rate is significantly low, and the difference between it affecting our order volume before and after Riskified is night and day.
Q. What would you say to somebody on the fence about working with Riskified?
John: In the travel business, especially the selling of activities where the consumer can access instant electronic tickets, it is imperative to identify fraud in the transaction. And, to expand upon that, as a reseller, who only collects a portion of the sale as income, but suffers the loss of the face value of the sale when fraud occurs, the cost can add up rapidly and eat into legitimate profits.
One fraud case could wipe out 10 other sales.
Is your team overburdened with fraud reviews?
Shift to an automated, AI-driven approach. Partner with Riskified to grow your business confidently with higher approval rates and lower fraud.
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