StubHub scalps fraudsters

Robert Capps knows a lot about fraud and transaction-level risk. As senior manager of trust and safety at StubHub, Capps has witnessed just about every trick that can be thrown at a fraudulent transaction. In case you're not aware, since 2000, StubHub has provided a marketplace for event-goers to buy and sell tickets to sporting games, concerts and theater shows.

For its role as a marketplace, StubHub sits in the middle of the transaction, which makes it different from many merchants, explains Capps. "One of the keys to our marketplace being unique is that we manage the acceptance and distribution of all the payments for all of the transactions," he says.

It may be unique, however, it certainly makes the marketplace motivated to catch fraudsters. And motivated Capps is. The risks the marketplace faces are many. On the buyer side, StubHub risks tickets being bought with stolen credit cards, or buyers - after the event - deciding to dispute the charge (buyer's remorse), as well as claims that the credit card in the purchase was used without the cardholder's permission. "On the seller side, generally, it's an exception process. Such as if the seller fails to deliver the tickets that they promised. In that case, we step in and make sure the customer gets tickets. Also, if they provide tickets that were invalid for some reason, it's our job to fix that transaction," Capps says.

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