Amir Sadras, Founder of FUGU Says Merchants Can Significantly Reduce False Declines

FUGU, founded in 2019 by Amir Sadras, is offering companies post-checkout tracking to significantly reduce false declines. FUGU received investments from angel investors and Samurai Incubate.

Businesses often mislabel legitimate clients as fraud. False declines are estimated to cost businesses $386 billion per annum.

The cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is on the rise. During Covid-19, Facebook CPM price increase by 50% (approx.) in one year. Once a client is already at the checkout page, reducing false declines is crucial for any business.

FUGU allows the client to first complete the transaction before carrying identification challenges. As a result, the odds of the buyer abandoning the purchase are low while the merchant retains the ability to cancel the order if the client fails the fraud checks.

Multi-tiered fraud protection layers are offered including risk scores. As the analysis is carried out after a purchase is made, any risk signals that are picked by FUGU will request firmer verification, thus protecting the merchant from fraud.

In an interview with Amir Sadras, he said that FUGU is also adapting to crypto payments (where KYC may be a regulatory requirement in future) and biometrics payments.

BNPL Fraud Solutions

BNPL, which is also becoming popular is supported by the payment system. In BNPL where the payment is recurring, it is essential to update into a modern fraud solution as opposed to traditional systems.

Sadras added that businesses must begin adjusting to metaverse payments. Digital payments in Southeast Asia are becoming more popular, it is a matter of time until more businesses will begin operating in the metaverse.

As the traditional payments systems continue to evolve, businesses that lag behind may struggle in the future. Digital identities can be forged. A system similar to FUGU that tracks clients' post-payments offers an efficient solution to combat fraud and lessen false declines.

FUGU is the only company that provides post-checkout fraud solutions to online businesses.

The BNPL Market

The BNPL market expanded during the pandemic. Korean companies such as Naver Financial, Kakao Pay, Toss and Coupang provided BNPL options to their customers.

The companies are expecting firmer transaction volumes via the BNPL service. Flexpay, a subsidiary of Danal is allowing clients to conduct transactions in cryptocurrencies in its Flex Store using BNPL.

The rise of BNPL is seen at a global scale. Master Card and J.P. Morgan have also entered the buy now, pay later services. Bank of America is projecting the global BNPL market to reach $1 trillion by 2025.

Apple unveiled its plans to enter the BNPL market, which triggered a warning from Rohit Chopra, the director of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Chopra said that they are looking into the implications of large tech companies entering the BNPL space.