Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

Dating Website Fraud Is Running Rampant

BUSINESS INSIDER - Feb 13 - According to the fraud protection firm Iovation, instances of fraud on dating sites has jumped more than 150% in the past year. In 2010, 1.4% of the online dating site transactions Iovation processed using its ReputationManager 360 program were found to be fraudulent; that number jumped to 3.8% in 2011. "Those bad actors can cause millions of dollars in lost revenue and damaged reputation to online dating sites, not to mention a loss of innocence for its users," Mark Brooks, said editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com.

by Matt Liebowitz
See full article at Business Insider

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All 2012 Valentine's Day News

iovation: Keeping Your Members Safe From Online Scams And Predators

OPW - Feb 12 - Each year, more and more people are turning to the Internet to find romance. At the same time, cyber-criminals continue to seek opportunities to exploit the vulnerability of singles on a global scale.  Security is a major challenge for internet dating sites, which can attract scammers, spammers, stalkers and predators. A device fingerprinting solution such as iovation ReputationManager 360 provides unique insight into the computers being used to create multiple accounts and exposes hidden device account relationships that identity-based fraud solutions often miss. This iovation white paper will help you understand what new and innovative techniques can be used to protect the reputation of your business, keep your members in a safe and trusted environment, while keeping the fraudsters out.

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Fraud Is In The Air, iovation Finds Increase In Online Dating Abuses

MARKET WIRE - Feb 9 - iovation, the Device Reputation Authority protecting online businesses from fraud and abuse, has seen a significant spike in online dating site fraud in the past 12 months. Iovation found that 3.8% of the total transactions it processed for online dating sites in 2011 were fraudulent -- more than a 150% increase over the 1.4% in 2010 and 1.5% in 2009. To date, iovation has stopped almost 60M fraud attempts on dating websites.

Some of the most common scenarios include:

• Credit Card Fraud
• Spamming
• Scams and Solicitations 
• Identity Mining
• Profile Misrepresentation
• Harassment / Bullying
• Chat Abuse 

See full article at Marketwire

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iovation Reduced Fraud Losses by $1.8 Million

IOVATION BLOG - Sep 21 - For online retailers whose business models rely on Internet transactions to generate revenue, fraud losses that range anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars a year can have a significant impact on their overall business profits. In iovation's case study, “Online Retailer Uses New Fraud Detection Systems To Cut Fraud Loss Rates,” Forrester Research principal analyst, Andras Cser, shares how the online merchant was able to reduce fraud loss by $1.8M after deploying iovation’s ReputationManager 360 along with our partner’s case management system.

by Max Anhoury
See full article at iovation blog

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Red Herring Recognizes iovation As A 2011 Top Technology Innovator

IOVATION BLOG - May 18 - iovation was named as a finalist for the 2011 Red Herring Top 100 North American Award. Last year alone, iovation helped online businesses prevent 35M fraud attempts to protect their customers, corporate reputations and reduce fraud losses.

See full article at Iovation Blog

(Full disclosure: iovation is a former client of Courtland Brooks)

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iovation Expands Presence In France

IOVATION BLOG - Apr 29 - Every day iovation assesses risk on 7.5M transactions for their online customers around the globe. France trails just third, behind the US and UK in the total volume of Internet traffic from one country. As part of iovation's effort to expand their device identification, device reputation and real-time risk mitigation services for online businesses in France, Philippe Mazurier has joined iovation as Country Manager, heading up sales and business development.

See full article at iovation Blog

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Online Dating Sites A Haven For Criminals

IOVATION - Feb 17 - Twenty years ago, online dating wasn’t even a thought. Ten years ago, it was weird. Five years ago, it was new and exciting. Today, it’s as normal as milk and bread. As online dating gradually gained popularity and acceptance, scammers were coming up with ways to take advantage and perfecting their craft. And now it’s a full-time job for them. In the last 90 days, 230,000 fraud and abuse attempts were reported to iovation from dating sites alone, including:

• Spamming – 90,000
• Scams and solicitations – 30,000
• Inappropriate content – 20,000
• Chat abuse – 17,000
• Profile misrepresentation – 15,000
• Credit card fraud – 14,000
• Identity mining / phishing attempts – 12,000

iovation has many more categories specific to dating, including bullying, account takeovers, under age members, and so on. What’s unique to their globally shared system is that their clients can choose what to take action on or not. Dating sites can specify which type of behavior to protect their users from.
FULL ARTICLE @ IOVATION BLOG

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iovation Device Reputation Stopped 35 Million Fraud Attempts In 2010

BUSINESS WIRE - Jan 26 – Fraud prevention service iovation successfully protected 4.5 billion financial transactions while thwarting 35 million fraud attempts in 2010. iovation's device reputation technology utilizes a database of over 500 million unique devices, including computers, tablets and mobile phones to block transactions from devices involved with fraudulent activities. Total fraud and abuse experiences reported grew by 76%, totaling more than 4 million events associated with devices and accounts. Greg Pierson, founder and CEO of iovation, is proud of his company's performance in 2010 and is highly optimistic for 2011. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

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iovation Named Finalist In Online Dating Industry Awards

BUSINESS WIRE - Dec 20 - iovation, the Device Reputation Authority protecting online businesses from fraud and abuse, has been named a Finalist for Best New Technology at the Annual Online Dating Industry Awards. This award recognizes the best individual technology created by a vendor for dating and matchmaking sites. Voting for the 2011 Internet Dating Industry Awards is open to the public until January 4, 2011, at idateawards.com. FULL ARTICLE @ INSURANCE NEWS NET

Mark Brooks: You can find the line up finalists here.

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Mobile Payments New Opportunity For Both Merchants And Fraudsters

IOVATION BLOG - Oct 14 - A recent study by Javelin Strategy & Research found that fraud losses from mobile payments as a percentage of total revenue were 1.13% compared to the 0.83% for online-only merchants and 0.86% for multi-channel merchants. iovation protects online businesses and their end users against fraud and abuse and will lead the Mobile Anti-Fraud Roundtables at the Mobile Shopping Summit on October 25 in New York. FULL ARTICLE @ IOVATION BLOG

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iovation Reaching 4 Billion Device Reputation Checks

IOVATION BLOG - Sep 28 - iovation continues to see significant growth in the total number of device reputation checks performed for online businesses, along with the number of unique devices managed in the Device Reputation Authority (DRA) database. With only three months remaining, iovation has already increased the annual growth rate for processed transactions by 67% over 2009. With more than 3.9 billion cumulative device reputation checks processed for e-commerce, financial, travel, gaming and online communities today, we expect to break 4 billion early in Q4. FULL ARTICLE @ IOVATION BLOG

Mark Brooks: iovation serves numerous idating companies and helps them work together to beat scammers, spammers, and those that would be abusive towards our communities and members. (Full Disclosure: iovation is a long term client of Courtland Brooks)

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iovation Listed On The Inc. 5000

BUSINESS WIRE - Aug 29 - iovation, the device reputation authority protecting online businesses from fraud and abuse, is included in the Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest growing private companies. Inc. Magazine ranked iovation number 1662 on its annual list, number 38 within private security companies, and number 14 within the Portland, OR metro area. iovation was founded in June 2004 to make the Internet a safer place for individuals to conduct business and interact with one another. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

Mark Brooks: I've worked with iovation since 2007 helping them get their arms around the internet dating industry. They help the industry work together to beat scammers, spammers, and those that would be obnoxious or obscene or abusive to members. Beyond the idating industry, they also work with the gaming and financial services industries. If you've not talked to iovation yet, I'd recommend talking with them. My clients, and industry referrals have been happy with their services. (Full Disclosure: iovation is a long term client of Courtland Brooks)

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More Money Is Earned In Online Scams Than In The Drug Trade

IOVATION BLOG - July 21 - When it comes to online dating scams, we all like to believe we learn from our own, and others, experiences. But according to new statistics on Romancescams.org, site dedicated to fighting online romance scams, the average loss per person involved in a romance scam has climbed to $11,500. That’s up from a 2007 report where the advocacy group cited the average loss per victim was $7,900. Barbara Sluppick, the founder of Romancescams.org, said the problem continues to escalate despite having more information. Phonebusters, the Canadian organization that deals with online scams, recently said that more money is earned in online scams than in the drug trade. On July 20th, iovation CEO and co-founder, Greg Pierson, presented to 800 webinar registrants, a comprehensive way to detect criminal activity online, without collecting personally identifiable information (PII) or interrupting the user experience. Over 300 major brands use iovation’s fraud protection service to protect their members from romance scams, spam, financial fraud and many other forms of online fraud and abuse. To watch the webinar, please visit www.iovation.com/risk-mitigation. FULL ARTICLE @ IOVATION BLOG

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iovation Announces ReputationManager 360

BUSINESS WIRE - July 14 - iovation, the device reputation authority protecting online businesses from fraud and abuse, today unveiled ReputationManager 360. ReputationManager 360 combines customizable business rules, risk profiles, and the shared experiences of more than 2,000 fraud analysts worldwide. ReputationManager 360 helps online businesses stop cyber criminals before they have a chance to cause damage to both businesses and customers. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

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iovation Webinar On Detecting High Risk Transactions

IOVATION - July 12 - iovation, provider of the world’s first device reputation service for preventing online fraud and abuse, is running a webinar on Detecting High Risk Transactions on July 20th. During this 45-minute webinar, you will learn how to proactively assess risk to know which transactions to trust and which to reject. They'll discuss techniques that cyber criminals use to hide their identities and how you can detect this and act immediately to protect your business. Register here.

Benefits Of A Centralized Device Reputation Network To Combat Online Fraud

IOVATION BLOG - June 6 - Trying to fight fraud alone can be a losing battle. One of the most effective ways to defend your enterprise is by working together and sharing information with other fraud teams across multiple industries. Fraud management solutions such as iovation's ReputationManager draws upon the power of fraud teams working together with a common goal — to proactively defend their enterprises against a variety of sophisticated forms of fraud and abuse. Instead of trying to recognize every changing identity or device profile used by fraudsters on your own, with iovation once a device has been identified and submitted to the shared database, fraud analysts are alerted in real-time when a suspect device accesses their website, even if the computer’s configurations changed since its previous visit. Subscribers of iovation see on average, 17% of their devices cross between multiple industries. FULL ARTICLE @ IOVATION BLOG

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iovation Named Internet Fraud Prevention Tool For BoonEx

BUSINESS WIRE - Apr 20 - iovation, provider of the world’s first device reputation service for preventing online fraud and abuse, partners with BoonEx, a white-label platform provider for community, social networking and dating sites. iovation ReputationManager will protect the BoonEx community against fraud and abuse, such as financial fraud, spam, predators, cyber bullies, phishing, identity theft, scams and solicitations. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

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iovation Selected By AlwaysOn As An OnDemand Top 100 Winner

BUSINESS WIRE - Apr 9 - iovation, provider of the first device reputation service for preventing online fraud and abuse, has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the OnDemand Top 100 winners. The OnDemand 100 winners were selected from among hundreds of other technology companies nominated by investors, bankers, journalists, and industry insiders. iovation exposes cyber criminals by identifying the computers they are using to steal from or harm online businesses. FULL ARTICLE @ YOUR STORY

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This week: news on Plentyoffish, eHarmony, Match, iovation, SetForMarriage, Sex.com, and Spark Networks

iovation Named Finalist For Technology-Service Company Of The Year

BUSINESS WIRE - Mar 17 - iovation, provider of the device reputation service for preventing online fraud and abuse, has been named a finalist by TechAmerica Oregon for the 2010 Oregon Technology Awards in the category of technology-service company of the year. This year's winners will be announced at the Oregon Technology Awards event on May 6, 2010 at the Portland Art Museum in Portland. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

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