Account Takeover (ATO) fraud is a growing threat to online stores. Instead of creating a new account, fraudsters gain unauthorized access to a legitimate customer account and use it to make fraudulent purchases, change account information or exploit stored customer and payment details.
To help WooCommerce merchants defend against this threat, FraudLabs Pro now supports Account Takeover (ATO) fraud prevention in its WooCommerce plugin. The feature automatically monitors important customer account activities and can block suspicious ATO attempts before they result in fraudulent transactions.
What Is Account Takeover Fraud #
Account takeover occurs when an unauthorized person gains access to a legitimate customer’s account. Attackers may obtain login credentials through phishing, credential stuffing, password reuse, malware or other techniques.
Once an account has been compromised, the fraudster may change the customer’s personal information, modify addresses or proceed to checkout using the trusted account. Because the account itself belongs to a genuine customer, traditional transaction-based fraud checks may not always identify the attack early enough.
ATO prevention therefore requires monitoring the customer’s activity throughout the account and purchasing journey not just at checkout.
How FraudLabs Pro Helps Prevent ATO Fraud #
With the Enable Account Takeover (ATO) Fraud Prevention option enabled, FraudLabs Pro automatically checks multiple WooCommerce touchpoints for suspicious account takeover activity.
The feature monitors:
- User login: Helps identify suspicious attempts to access customer accounts.
- Account details updates: Checks when customers modify important account information.
- Billing address updates: Detects suspicious changes to the billing information associated with an account.
- Shipping address updates: Helps to identify potentially fraudulent changes to where orders are being delivered.
- Checkout: Provides an additional layer of protection when a compromised account is used to place an order.
If FraudLabs Pro detects activity indicating an account takeover, the suspicious activity can be blocked automatically, helping to prevent the fraudster from successfully exploiting the compromised account.
Simple to Enable in WooCommerce #
Getting started requires only a simple configuration change. In your WordPress administration dashboard, go to FraudLabs Pro for WooCommerce → General Settings. Then enable “Enable Account Takeover (ATO) Fraud Prevention“.
Note that the Account Takeover (ATO) Fraud Prevention is available to FraudLabs Pro Medium plan users and above. Once enabled, FraudLabs Pro will automatically apply ATO fraud prevention checks to the supported WooCommerce account activities. There is no need to manually configure individual checks for login, account updates, address changes or checkout.
This makes it easy for merchants to add another layer of protection without introducing a complicated fraud prevention workflow.
Protect More Than Just the Checkout #
Traditional fraud prevention often focuses heavily on the checkout process. However, by the time a fraudulent order reaches the checkout, an attacker may already have compromised a customer’s account and changed important information.
FraudLabs Pro’s ATO protection takes a broader approach by monitoring activity before and during checkout. Detecting suspicious behavior when a user logs in or modifies account information can help merchants to identify compromised accounts sooner.
For example, an attacker who gains access to a customer’s account may attempt to change the shipping address before placing an order. Monitoring these changes provides an opportunity to detect and block the takeover before the fraudulent transaction is completed.
Conclusion #
Account takeover fraud can put both your customers and your business at risk. By monitoring login activity, account changes, address updates and checkout activity, FraudLabs Pro helps WooCommerce merchants to detect and block suspicious ATO attempts before they lead to fraudulent transactions.