Fraud Management Essentials (FME): How to Confirm Enablement and Usage

Fraud Management Essentials (FME) helps you manage and reduce fraud risk for your transactions. Use this article to confirm if FME is enabled for your merchant ID (MID), verify that FME is inspecting your transactions, and troubleshoot common issues. Find answers to frequently asked questions and learn how to access additional resources.

How to Learn More

Review the FME User Guide in the Business Center under Fraud Management > Guides.
Access the FME User Guide

Access training videos and the troubleshooting guide in the Business Center under Support > Training.
Access FME Training

Confirm FME Enablement for Your MID

Log into the Business Center. In the left navigation panel, look for the section labeled “Fraud Management.” If you see this section, FME is enabled for your MID. If you do not see the section, FME is not enabled. If you believe this is an error, contact the Client Services team.

Verify FME Is Inspecting Your Transactions

Log into the Business Center and go to Transaction Management > Transactions. Locate recent authorization or sale transactions. In the Applications column, look for “Decision Manager.” The application is titled Decision Manager (DM) whether you use FME or Decision Manager. If you do not see “Decision Manager,” FME is not inspecting those transactions.

Troubleshoot FME Not Inspecting Transactions

If FME is not inspecting your transactions, check the following:

• Send the required data fields, including Billing Address and Billing Email, with your authorization or sale transactions.
• Select the Decision Manager option in your Secure Acceptance profile.
• Confirm that the Smart Authorization product is not enabled for your MID. FME and Smart Authorization cannot be deployed on the same MID.
• Ensure your transactions do not include the value “decision_manager_enabled=no.” If you are unsure, contact the Client Services team.

Understand Why FME May Reject Orders

FME decisions are based on the rules you configure. To see why FME rejected an order, locate the order in Order Search. In the Order Detail screen, look for the Decision Manager Results panel and the Rule Evaluation subheading. This section lists the rules triggered for the order and the associated decisions.

If these fields are missing, the transaction fails. These fields are not required for authorization or sale transactions if you are not using FME.

Enable FME for Secure Acceptance Users

If you accept orders using Secure Acceptance, enable FME in your Secure Acceptance profile. Log into the Business Center, go to Payment Configuration > Secure Acceptance Settings, and select the Decision Manager option in your profile. This ensures FME inspects all your authorization and sale transactions.

IP Address Velocity Rules

FME allows you to configure velocity rules related to IP address to help prevent bot attacks. If many orders originate from the same IP address, such as from a call center, disable this rule to avoid unnecessary rejections.

Special Notes for Smart Authorization Merchants

FME and Smart Authorization cannot be enabled on the same MID. If you see “Smart Auth Settings” under Payment Configuration in the left navigation panel, contact the Client Services team to disable Smart Authorization before enabling FME.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is FME already set up for me?
FME is set up with pre-configured rules and settings. View and adjust these rules under Fraud Management > Rule Configuration.

How do I manage my rules?
Update your rules at any time. Changes take effect immediately. To disable FME, set each rule to “Disabled” or “Monitor.” To reset all rules to default, use the “Reset Rules” option in the Rule Configuration screen.

What is the Risk Score?
The Risk Score is a number between 0 and 99 that indicates the riskiness of an order. By default, FME rejects orders with a score of 95 or greater. You can configure how FME handles orders based on their Risk Score.

What is “Review”?
“Review” is a decision outcome that pauses the order until you accept or reject it. By default, no rules are set to “Review.” Update your rules if you want to use this outcome.

What should I do if an order is in Review?
Log into the Business Center and accept or reject the order. If you do not act within a set period, the authorization expires. To find orders pending review, go to Fraud Management > Fraud Dashboard and look for the “Orders Pending Review” tab.

How can I test FME?
Use the Test environment to experiment with FME. For example, set the Max Order Amount rule to reject transactions over a certain amount and create a test order to observe the outcome. Changes in the Test environment do not affect the Live environment.

Billing Note

FME is billed for all transactions except those rejected pre-authorization. FME is billed even if there is an authorization decline from the processor. If you use bundled services, the entire bundle is billed if any service in the bundle is used.