E-commerce in Germany is booming and hasn’t been deterred even by a year marked by inflation and high energy prices. Statista projects that the sector’s revenue in Germany will reach €103 billion this year and forecasts continued growth for the near future. In this growth sector, Ratepay is Europe’s number one white-label payment provider. This leading position naturally entails a great responsibility towards its customers. Therefore, Ratepay places particular emphasis on reliability and quality in fraud detection. FRIDA, the sophisticated tool from RISK IDENT, provides Ratepay with the right answer to its complex requirements. FRIDA is an intelligent fraud detection solution that uses cutting-edge technologies and state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms to connect transaction data and identify patterns. FRIDA adapts to the individual challenges in fraud detection and prevention, offers intuitively usable web interfaces and prevents false positives in order to protect not only the shop’s revenue but also its good customers from online fraud.
Ratepay handles payment processing and assumes default risk for online shops
As a traditional payment service provider, Ratepay offers its e-commerce customers simple and secure processing of standard B/B/L/L payment methods. However, its business model extends beyond transactions alone, providing online retailers with protection against payment failures. Both invoice payments and installment plans are among the riskiest transaction types in an online shop’s portfolio. The threats of non-payment are diverse: alongside customers with insufficient funds who have no fraudulent intent, there are countless fraud schemes run by criminals who systematically – and often in organized rings – seek to exploit online retailers..
Online shops that don’t want to deny their customers the popular pay-by-invoice option and miss out on the associated revenue have a strong and experienced partner in Ratepay.
RISK IDENT and Ratepay share a long-standing and trusted partnership
The two providers share a long history that can be traced back to the Otto Group, from which both Ratepay and RISK IDENT originated. Their European market leadership in their respective fields also unites the companies, making them a powerful team against online fraud.
The collaboration began in 2013. At that time, Ratepay was already using DEVICE IDENT – RISK IDENT’s device fingerprinting solution – to identify and catch fraudsters based on the devices they used. Ratepay is a pioneering fintech company, having emerged from Otto’s Technology Hub in 2009. It was spun off in 2017 and has since established a strong reputation in the financial industry.
Due to the close connection and significant overlap in expertise between the two companies, future collaboration was a logical step, though by no means unconditional.
From the start, using RISK IDENT’s solutions delivered immediate fraud prevention wins and significantly reduced fraud rates. The collaboration was professional and effective from day one, building strong trust between the experts at Ratepay and RISK IDENT. The synergies and high success rate in fraud detection were key drivers of this long-standing and successful partnership.
DEVICE IDENT kicked off the partnership
For a company like Ratepay, whose business model relies partly on assuming financial risks during payment processing, early detection of fraud and suspicious transactions is critically important. However, identifying fraudulent transactions online isn’t as straightforward as in a physical store. While a photo ID can verify a customer’s identity in person, online transactions require examining and often combining different identifiers. Beyond the online account, it’s primarily the device used for the purchase – along with all its metrics – that enables precise identification of devices used for fraud.
Ratepay recognized DEVICE IDENT’s capabilities early on and has been using the software solution for over ten years now. The exceptional quality of RISK IDENT’s device data pool (the largest in the DACH region) was one of the strongest selling points and laid the foundation for this long-standing, successful partnership. “The data in RISK IDENT’s pool is of exceptionally high quality because it’s constantly maintained and cleaned of irrelevant entries,” says Janine Gleichmann, Head of Consumer Risk at Ratepay. “Ratepay works extremely meticulously and expects the same from our partners. Since partnering with RISK IDENT, we’ve reduced our fraud cases by 50 percent. That’s why RISK IDENT provides us with the most efficient and innovative anti-fraud technologies.”
Innovation and expertise as the foundation for collaboration
With Ratepay and RISK IDENT, two market leaders in their respective segments came together and clicked from day one. Monique Paulsen, Head of Product Consultants at RISK IDENT, echoes this sentiment, describing the trust built over the years: “When our product experts first met with Ratepay, everyone was immediately impressed by each other’s expertise. From those initial conversations to our regular exchanges years later, we’ve always communicated as equals.”
The close collaboration also pays dividends in fine-tuning. Ratepay uses device fingerprints for their own internal checks, and those results then feed back into FRIDA.
Data protection must always be guaranteed
As ambitious technology providers, good results alone are not enough to earn long-term customer trust. They must also set the standard for data protection. Here too, Ratepay and RISK IDENT’s goals align perfectly. Trust is paramount, especially in something as sensitive as fraud prevention. Partners who want to grow together in fighting online fraud must lead by example and maintain an impeccable compliance record. That’s why RISK IDENT prioritizes protecting user data. Responsible data handling under strict European regulations is the backbone of their company. Their servers are located in Hamburg, and they process all data exclusively in Germany—fully GDPR compliant, of course.
Fighting online fraud together – now and in the future
The excellent synergies and strong chemistry between RISK IDENT and Ratepay teams deliver outstanding results for their mutual clients. But online fraud is a societal challenge. That’s why RISK IDENT and Ratepay also present together at conferences, where they are recognized as a trusted duo in fraud prevention.
The shared goal is to continue growing together and supporting each other.
