Fraud Deflect CEO Scott Adams: Winning the War on Chargebacks and “Friendly Fraud”

Most “fraud” on your statement isn’t a hacker; it’s your own customers hitting the dispute button. In this episode, you’ll learn how a veteran merchant‑turned‑founder built a company to stop chargebacks at the source and keep subscription and e‑commerce brands from losing their ability to process payments.In this episode, Doug and Fraud Deflect CEO Scott Adams discuss:What chargebacks are and how the dispute ecosystem worksFriendly fraud, first‑party misuse, and subscription businessesBuilding Fraud Deflect from real merchant pain pointsWorking with Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and alternative paymentsEntrepreneurship, co‑founder marriage, and avoiding burnoutKey Takeaways:The chargeback system is heavily weighted toward the cardholder, so merchants must proactively defend their revenue instead of reacting after money disappears.“Friendly fraud” and first‑party misuse are often more dangerous than classic stolen‑card fraud because they’re harder to detect and easier for customers to justify.Deep understanding of chargeback rules, thresholds, and card‑brand programs can save you from suddenly losing your merchant account.Listening to merchants will help solve profitable problems and build tools that actually get adopted.Clear communication, defined roles, and intentional boundaries are critical when your co‑founder is also your spouse, and just as important for any startup team.“What my co-founder and I started Fraud Deflect around was to bring solutions together and create our own solutions that help the merchant not only beat those chargebacks but ideally save the sale before it even gets to that point.” - Scott AdamsAbout the guest, Scott Adams and his company, Fraud Deflect:Scott E. Adams, Fraud Deflect’s co-founder, is well known and respected in the online business community, the card-not-present payment community, and the affiliate and Internet marketing community. He successfully combines exceptional IT skills and cutting-edge anti-fraud mechanics to solve problems and quickly improve a company’s ROI.Scott learned he was an entrepreneur and fraud fighter when, early in his career, he grew a small $5M direct response company that was losing their merchant account to a company with revenue of $25M annually and a healthy chargeback rate of 0.7%. During his decade leading that company, He created one of the earliest affiliate metrics tracking systems and developed his own proprietary anti-fraud software.Connect with Scott and Fraud Deflect:Website: https://frauddeflect.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speakerscotteadams/ Join our newsletter: https://wwspodcast.com/ SubSummit will be at Nashville  City Center from June 21- 23, 2027. Join the waitlist HERE: https://subsummit.com/#waitlist Book your meeting with Christopher George from SubSummit here: https://meetings.hubspot.com/chris3306/linkedin-profile?uuid=0c103e97-4adc-4c16-bbe6-794c92ab9c61 About SubSummit:SubSummit brings together thousands of executives and operators from established enterprises, direct-to-consumer, fast-growing startups, innovative tech companies, active investors, and more. These pioneers come from across a broad range of industries, including e-commerce, media, publishing, retail, streaming, SaaS, digital, automotive, and beyond.From FabFitFun to Walmart+ to MasterClass, the world’s leading brands leverage SubSummit to remain catalysts in consumer engagement and product experiences.Simply put, if you’re in subscription, membership, or recurring revenue, you’re at SubSummit.Website: https://subsummit.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/subsummit/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sub_summit/ Show notes by Podcastologist: Hanz Jimuel AlvarezAudio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.