Fraud Prevention for Top-Up, eSIM and Gift Cards
Mobile top-up, travel eSIM, gift cards, game cards and e-money are among the most targeted products online. This guide explains why, and how ProtectMaxx screens more than 15 million digital goods transactions a year.
Why digital goods attract fraud
Digital goods combine three things fraudsters want: instant delivery, no way to recall the goods once a code or top-up is sent, and high resale value. A stolen card can be turned into a resellable gift card code or mobile top-up within seconds. There is no parcel to stop and no address to check.
Products ProtectMaxx protects
- Mobile top-up: prepaid credit for mobile operators.
- Travel eSIM: data plans delivered as a QR code.
- Gift cards: retail and platform vouchers delivered as codes.
- Game cards: prepaid gaming credit.
- e-Money: prepaid payment vouchers.
How ProtectMaxx decides
Every transaction is checked at checkout in under 100ms:
- Ingest and enrich: 40+ signals per transaction, from previous transactions, customer and payment details, and external data such as email age.
- Score and decide: machine learning, a rule engine (velocity, geo-anomaly, device fingerprinting, card history) and 24/7 human analysts combine into an approve or decline.
- Learn: every confirmed chargeback feeds back into the models, across the full network.
The goal is to stop fraud without blocking good customers. ProtectMaxx reaches up to 99% acceptance of legitimate orders, depending on product type.
Proven at telco scale
Mi-Pay was founded in 2003 and is based in London. ProtectMaxx screens more than 15 million transactions a year and has screened more than 100 million to date. It protects digital goods sales for operators including Three, O2 Germany (Telefónica), Congstar (Deutsche Telekom) and Tesco Mobile, delivered through Alphacomm Solutions, and the consumer top-up brands of Reloadnow (opwaarderen.nl, aufladen.de and herladen.be). Mi-Pay is PCI DSS Level 1 certified and GDPR compliant.
Plans
| Score Only | Fully Covered | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | €0.10 per transaction | 1–2% per transaction, depending on risk profile |
| Fraud liability | Stays with you | 100% chargeback guarantee on fraud chargebacks for approved transactions |
| Analysts | Not included | Dedicated fraud analyst team and custom rules |
| Start | From day one | After a 3–5 month shadow period |
Payment methods covered include credit card, PayPal, Klarna, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Open Banking, iDEAL, Bancontact and Wero. See our guide to Wero chargebacks.
Frequently asked questions
Why is gift card and top-up fraud so common?
Because delivery is instant, the goods cannot be recalled once sent, and codes and top-ups are easy to resell. A fraudster can turn a stolen card into cash-like value within seconds.
How fast does ProtectMaxx decide?
ProtectMaxx returns a fraud decision at checkout in under 100 milliseconds.
How many transactions does ProtectMaxx screen?
More than 15 million transactions a year, and more than 100 million in total to date.
Does ProtectMaxx work for physical goods?
ProtectMaxx is built for digital goods and its models are trained on digital goods transactions. Merchants selling physical goods can contact Mi-Pay to discuss options.
Check your exposure
Tell us your volumes and payment methods. We'll show you where fraud is getting through and what full indemnification would cost.
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