Authorize.net - Unable to authorize payment. This transaction did not meet Fraud Pre.

[mitchel]

My clients site (http://store.kevlarfork9s.org) was being hammered by people trying to authorize cards for whatever malicious purpose and she was being charged every time.

She added a bunch of filters and protection to her Authorized.net account and now we are getting the errors:

"Unable to authorize payment. This transaction did not meet Fraud Prevention requirements. Please contact store management for assistance."

and sometimes something like:

"Unable to authorize payment: This transaction has been declined."

And idea what we are doing wrong or what we can do about this?

Thanks!

Mitch

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Authorize.net - Unable to authorize payment. This transaction did not meet Fraud

Mitch,

An alternative option is to use the MaxMind Fraud Prevention module or the reCAPTCHA module. Personally I like MaxMind module, but the reCAPTHCHA module is free. You can get them both on Miva Central and they would prevent it from even getting to Auth.net and therefore you won't get charged a transaction fee by them.

[mitchel]

Re: Authorize.net - Unable to authorize payment. This transaction did not meet Fraud

Hi Rick:

I appreciate the response, but what I wanted to know is if someone knew why the error is coming up and if it's being caused by Authorize.net or the Miva store? I would prefer not having my customer spend any additional money.

Also...is there someway to replace the error message with something more friendly? My customer has setup Authorize.net to not automatically process any order...she goes in and verifies them first in an effort to stop the fraudulent happenings.

Because she does things manually on Authorize.net...are there some other settings in Miva that I should try? I think there was a setting for Offline or Manual for Authorize.net...I believe we have it set to online.

Thanks,

Mitch

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Authorize.net - Unable to authorize payment. This transaction did not meet Fraud

Mitch,

Those error messages come back from Authorize.net and are not editable. Also it's worth noting the reCAPTCHA module is 100% free to get and free to use. The reason I mentioned MaxMind is it's FAR cheaper per month (usually about $5) than what it costs you in Auth.net transaction fees.

As for using Authorize.net to Authorize and then Capture after verification, yes in the module set it to Offline. She will need to Capture those orders though once verified which you can easily do in the admin.

Finally another option (we used to do this pre MaxMind) is to switch to Credit Card with Simple Validation during an "attack". What we normally found was that you only had to do that a few times until the hacker realized he wasn't getting real answers back on his card tests and then they'd move on to the next site to bother.

[ids]

Re: Authorize.net - Unable to authorize payment. This transaction did not meet Fraud

Mitch,

I think these are declines returned to MM because Auth.net is configured to do thorough checks on the card data being submitted. If someone is testing cards on your site, you probably have the correct settings.

When the card is submitted by a "customer," the card info is submitted to the gateway (auth.net in your case) for authorization even if you don't capture the funds right away -- as you mentioned. So, a transaction happens regardless.

When you look at an order in MM admin before it's processed (to capture the money), You'll find there is an authorization code. This code is what allows your client to "get" the money from the credit card company transferred into the bank account.

One option I suppose, use the Simple CC module. This means everything is done by hand. I think it costs more using a virtual terminal to enter CC transactions. It may be more risky too because the CC data might not be checked as well for fraud.

Bottom line, it isn't an easy answer or solution.

Scott