PaxGuard: protecting
virtual commerce

PayByCash launched PaxGuard, which reduces fraud-related expenses and lost revenue for merchants within games and virtual worlds.

PayByCash, the leading payment system for virtual environments, has been around since 1998. One of its most popular products is the Ultimate Game Card, a prepaid card that can be used in about 150 virtual worlds and games. About half of transactions are completed with the card, which are purchased — mostly by kids and teens — in retail stores, writes Virtual Worlds News.

Tapping into the non-credit market is essential for merchants in the space, so more of them are accepting numerous payment methods. But with that comes a deeper threat of different types of fraud, like phishing and identity theft.

PaxGuard combines some of PayByCash's exisiting anti-fraud elements and technology from its partners, said president Kevin Higgins.

Merchants can customize the PaxGuard program to set their own rules for evaluation, then initiate certain detection rules to tag a particular customer "high risk" and require PayByCash's no-risk payment method. On the flip side, they can also set reputable customers' risk levels at "low," making it easier for them to make purchases.

In 2007, a venture capital firm put a $1.5 billion value on the virtual merchandising industry. "Virtual merchandise" includes virtual furniture, tools for moving ahead in a virtual landscape, or virtual land. Marketers note: the real value is not in the goods themselves, but in the positive impact of an experience with the brand.