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Fraud detector: how it works, configuration and best practices

The MONEI Fraud Detector is a machine-learning-powered fraud prevention tool that analyzes card payments in real time, assigns a risk score from 0 (safe) to 100 (high risk), and automatically blocks suspicious payments before they cost you money.

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The Fraud Detector currently protects card payments only.

How it works​

When a customer initiates a card payment, the Fraud Detector evaluates the transaction against multiple risk signals before it is processed. Each payment receives a risk score between 0 and 100, and a corresponding risk level (Low, Medium, or High). Card payments that score above your configured threshold are automatically blocked.

The machine learning model analyzes multiple signals in real time based on the payment's characteristics, such as , customer contact details, and shipping address.

Fees​

The Fraud Detector costs €0.05 per screened transaction (VAT added). For current pricing, see MONEI fees.

Enabling the Fraud Detector​

  1. Go to Settings → Payments → Fraud detector in your MONEI Dashboard.
  2. Toggle Enable fraud detector to on.
  3. Configure your risk threshold (see below).
  4. Click Save.

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The Fraud Detector is an add-on service with additional fees. See the pricing page for details.

Configuring the risk threshold​

The risk threshold determines the cutoff point at which payments are automatically blocked. You can adjust it using the slider in the Fraud Detector settings page, moving between two extremes:

  • Increase protection (block more fraud, lower threshold) — Catches a higher percentage of fraudulent transactions, but may also block a small number of legitimate payments.
  • Reduce friction (allow more high-risk payments, higher threshold)—Lets more transactions through, reducing but allowing more potentially risky payments.

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As you move the slider, the dashboard shows the strategy for your current setting (Aggressive, Balanced, Conservative, or Monitor) along with an estimate of how much fraud it catches and how many legitimate payments might be declined. We recommend starting with the Conservative strategy and adjusting based on your results.

If you set the threshold to the maximum (100), no payments will be blocked and risk scores will be recorded for monitoring purposes only. This allows you to analyze results and test Fraud Detector without impacting live transactions.

If you’ve been using Fraud Detector and want to adjust your threshold, a list of past payments scoring at or above the newly selected threshold will appear below the slider. This allows you to review which payments would have been blocked before applying the new setting.

Choosing the right threshold​

The ideal threshold depends on your business model and risk tolerance:

  • Low-ticket, high-volume merchants (e.g., digital goods) may prefer a lower threshold to aggressively block fraud, since the cost of outweighs the occasional lost sale.
  • High-ticket merchants (e.g., luxury goods, travel) may prefer a higher threshold and manual review workflows to avoid blocking legitimate high-value customers.

Reviewing fraud analysis on a payment​

Every card payment screened by the Fraud Detector includes a Fraud risk analysis section in its detail view. To review it:

  1. Open any payment in the MONEI Dashboard.
  2. Scroll to the Fraud risk analysis section.

You’ll see three key data points:

  • Risk score — A numerical value from 0 to 100, displayed as a visual progress bar. Higher scores indicate greater risk.
  • Risk level — A categorical label (Low, Medium, or High) derived from the risk score.
  • Risk summary — A plain-language explanation of the risk signals detected for the payment, for example: “This payment shows low risk based on the available signals. Additional review is typically not required.”

All card payments analyzed by Fraud Detector are visually tagged in both the payment list and the payment detail view. The icon color reflects the corresponding risk level, making them easy to identify during routine reviews.

Blocked payments​

When a payment scores above your configured threshold, it is automatically declined and will not be processed. These blocked transactions appear in the Failed payments section with a status message: Transaction declined by fraud detector.

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Blocked payments are not charged and do not result in or payouts.

Best practices​

  • Start with the Conservative strategy and adjust based on your chargeback and false-positive rates over time.
  • Review flagged payments regularly. The Fraud Detector is most effective when combined with periodic manual review of High- and Medium-risk transactions that fall just below your threshold.
  • Encourage authentication. 3D Secure adds an extra layer of customer authentication, helping reduce fraud and chargebacks. Enabling 3D Secure for your payment methods strengthens your overall fraud prevention strategy.
  • Monitor the threshold preview. Before changing your threshold, review the list of payments that would have been blocked to ensure the new setting aligns with your business needs.