Understanding and Avoiding Triangulation Fraud with Soups Ranjan

Easy Prey

As consumers, we may realize the need to be vigilant by using two-factor authentication and password managers, but there are so many scams out there that can impersonate legitimate organizations, websites, and people. We really can’t let our guard down.

Today’s guest is Soups Ranjan. Soups has over 18 years of experience in software engineering, data science, and risk management. He is the co-founder and CEO of Sardine. This behavior-infused platform offers fraud prevention, compliance, and payment solutions for various industries including banking, online marketplaces, FinTech, crypto, online gaming, and gift card exchanges. Previously, Soups led the Risk and Data Science teams at CoinBase, where he scaled the platform and enabled millions of users to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrency securely and efficiently.

Show Notes:

• [1:15] - Soups shares his background and information about his company, Sardine.
• [4:30] - He has not been a victim of a scam online but did experience an in-person scam.
• [6:57] - Sardine works with a diverse set of clients. Trends differ based on the industry. One major trend is an increase in triangulation fraud.
• [9:07] - Once they have card details, they can pretty much do whatever they want with it.
• [11:40] - Even on a contactless card, using tap-to-pay, be careful. Don’t hand over your device.
• [12:43] - It is becoming increasingly difficult to verify the identities of merchants.
• [15:21] - There is a big rise in scams as a result of the demand for real-time money transfers and exchanges.
• [17:45] - Some scammers are instructing victims to install screen viewers and recording tools.
• [19:50] - Machine learning is used to help protect clients.
• [21:41] - There are intrinsic behaviors that Sardine monitors to watch for unusual activity.
• [24:41] - Soups describes some of the other types of data that is observed in addition to behavior.
• [27:08] - Soups explains 3D Secure and what the benefits of this system are.
• [30:41] - Dollars lost to scams have far surpassed the dollars lost to fraud.
• [33:37] - The United States is behind in regulatory measures.
• [35:59] - It is best to work with banks that take fraud and scams very seriously.
• [37:15] - Soups lists some of the red flags and be on the lookout for.
• [39:44] - It is extremely important to protect your email address in the same way you protect your bank account.

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