Southwest Airlines Has the Industry's Lowest Online Fraud Rate. Jeff Liesendahl, CEO of Accertify, Explains How the Carrier Put A Halt to the Hustle

Overview

The battle against online fraud is a constant challenge for e-commerce merchants, and the airline industry is no exception. Southwest Airlines has been an industry leader in online bookings via southwest.com. The carrier has a long track record of profitability and has one of the industry's lowest cost structures. Two years ago, the carrier had fraud prevention technology in place, but wanted to take its fraud-fighting program to a higher level. Continued growth in online bookings and the ever-evolving nature of card-not-present fraud demanded a solution that was more effective, scalable and customizable. Southwest's goal was to reduce fraud-related losses and make anti-fraud resources more productive, while preserving an excellent customer service experience. Another key objective was to leverage new fraud fighting technologies in the most cost-efficient way possible, without dependency on a single fraud prevention tool, such as device fingerprinting.

Solution

After analyzing an array of solutions available in the marketplace, Southwest selected Accertify's Interceptas platform for enterprise-wide transaction risk screening. It chose Interceptas after determining that it provides advanced data management capabilities, as well as a comprehensive and flexible platform. Interceptas was implemented in August 2008. Accertify experts were on site throughout the implementation, working with Southwest to review and improve its fraud-fighting processes and to ensure a smooth launch. The process took two months, and involved three Southwest employees on a part-time basis.