Running a successful Magento store is associated with a lot of risks. Fraudulent transactions is one of those risks that costs businesses millions of dollars every year. That's why it's important to be able to detect and prevent any fraudulent transaction attempts that go through your store to save money and secure your operations. 

Check out this list of great fraud prevention tools for Magento that will allow you to manage your store more successfully. 

There are a lot of ways of combating fraud. Some of them are preventive, some of them are more passive. It also depends on the niche that you're working with, your goods (how popular they are with fraudsters) and a number of other factors. If, at some point, you realize that there are too many fraudulent transactions going through your store - you might want to consider some of these options. It's up to you to test them all out and see what works for you.

IP Blocking

It's one of the more drastic measures, but it's pretty effective when it comes to blocking users from specific locations that you identify as problematic. Some of the more advanced fraudsters might use proxy servers and other means of circumventing your blocks. But it's definitely going to discourage a lot of fraudulent transactions, since many of these users won't even be able to access your site in the first place and discover your products. 

It also works for domestic markets, as some of these IP blocking tools allow you to be very specific with the addresses that you forbid. Another bonus with IP blocking - you can use it to control spam comments on product reviews and other sections of your store. This traffic usually comes from specific countries/locations. You can also setup white/black lists with tools from this category (standard functionality for a lot of them). 

Some of the tools from this category that you might want to check out:

Geo Lock by MageWorx

Free extension + free lifetime support

Management panels for different countries

Supports redirects to specific URLs

GeoIP Store Switcher

Redirects to local store variants

Automatic IP database updates

Switch currency and taxes based on location

ET IP Security by Niro

Access to admin panel based on IP

Restrict access to front end

Switch off the site for maintenance

Social Login

If your store's focus is on registered users - this might be a great solution that can add an additional authentication layer to prevent further abuse. First of all, social profiles are easy to track and verify for suspicious transactions. Secondly, it adds an additional step that fraudsters need to take in order to make the purchase. If you don't want to make social login required - you can always offer rewards/ discounts for people, who use social login options. This way you can build up a more detailed database of users and track their activities more precisely. 

Social Login by MiniOrange

Simple admin UI

Good selection of designs

Automatic user registration

Social Login by MageHite

Responsive design support

Automatic login

Fully customizable code

Social Connector by GoMage

Easy installation

Connect with marketplaces (like Amazon)

Authentication through non-standard websites (Reddit, for example)

Two-Step Authentication

This one is focused around your back end, rather than front end. This solution allows you to add an additional layer of security to you store, by requiring admins to go through additional authentication methods. This is especially relevant, if at some point you realize that a developer that you've been working with is not trustworthy or if you feel like you need more control over your store's security.

It adds a verification step for anyone, trying to login to your admin panel. Similar to Google's 2-step authentication, this method might use text messages, email and other tools, depending on the specific solution that you use. Here're some that you should check out: 

Rublon Two-Factor Authentication

No tokens

White list devices

Easy installation

Extendware Two-Factor Authentication

Limit login attempts

Logging

Advanced protection from password 'sniffing'

OpenOTP Authentication

Google authenticator

Yubikey

SOAP/XML and RADIUS APIs

Shipping Restrictions

Similar to IP addresses - limiting shipping locations restricts many fraudsters from acquiring your product. In this case, it's more secure, since faking an IP address is a lot easier that faking the delivery destination. This also works in retrospect, when you have enough data to determine, which zip codes/addresses are more likely to be associated with fraudulent transactions. Here are some great tools in this category:

Shipping Restrictions by Amasty

Flexible rules

Use customer attributes to set shipping rules

ZIP code batches (3 first/last digits of ZIP codes used as restrictions)

Magento Shipping Restrictions Pro by MageComp

Apply restrictions based on store view and websites

Restrict based on parcel weight

Restrict by shipping methods

Shipping Restriction by Rohit Dhiman

Very light/ doesn't use up resources

Easily customizable

Unlimited database of zip codes

Bundled Solutions

This type of Magento fraud prevention tools encompasses products that include some of the above mentioned solutions and more, in a form of a packaged diverse product. It usually includes a number of services that all work together to prevent any fraudulent transactions from going through. These products are much more complex than any of the previous solutions, but they have the benefit of centralized management, which can significantly reduce clutter in your admin panel and make your fraud prevention practices are lot more smooth. Not to mention that these are more effective, as they use a number of fraud prevention tools under a single hood. Some of the solutions that we wanted to highlight:

Riskified Fraud Prevention

Flexible fees, based on performance

Easy management

9 fraud prevention analysis channels (IP, social data, etc.)

Fraud Prevention by Signifyd

'Smart' analysis using customer history

Background checks through services like Lexis-Nexis

Compare with various merchant blacklists

Magento Fraud Prevention Screen by DirectShop

BIN check

Comprehensive risk scoring

Proxy detection

Remember that there are tons of other Magento fraud prevention tools out there and some of these might not work specifically for your business. Another great approach to this problem is to contact your payment processor and find out if they have any fraud prevention products at their disposal. Sometimes, they'll be able to offer additional fraud prevention screening, especially, if you're making more and more money with them. 

What is your favorite fraud prevention tool that helped you to significantly reduce risks ? Share your story, thoughts and ideas in the comments below!