User Guide

Fraud Management Filters June 23, 2009 31
4
Customizing Websites to use
Fraud Management Filters
You can detect and manage Fraud Management Filter results using IPN and the PayPal API.
All merchants using IPN or the PayPal API must ensure that their systems can handle
transactions pended by Fraud Management Filters.
z Using Fraud Management Filters With IPN
z Fraud Management Filters API Prerequisites
z Detecting Pending Transactions Using the PayPal API
z Handling FMF Errors in Payment API Operations
z Migration From Risk Controls
Using Fraud Management Filters With IPN
Fraud Management Filter actions are reported in IPN payment messages only when a filter
causes the payment to be pended awaiting your review or a when you accept or deny a filter-
pended payment. Filter actions are not reported when filters flag payments for review, allow
payments to be accepted, or cause them to be denied.
When a payment occurs, an IPN message shows the transaction’s payment status as
Completed, regardless of whether a Fraud Management Filter was activated or not. There is
no special notification for transactions that are flagged by a Fraud Management Filter. If a
Fraud Management Filter is set to Deny, PayPal does not send an IPN message when the filter
actually causes the payment to be denied.
When a transaction is pended, however, PayPal sends an IPN message containing one or more
fraud_management_pending_filters_
n variables, which identify the filters that caused
the payment to be pended, where n=1 specifies the first filter, and so on. In addition, the
payment_status variable is set to Pending. The following example shows an IPN message
in which two filters cause the transaction to be pended: