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It's inevitable that some fraudsters will try to use stolen financial data with your website, especially when you happen to be one of the largest online payment processors in the world. PayPal, the Internet payments system, processes transactions 24/7 from all over the globe. In fact, the company reported it handled 4.9 billion transactions in 2015 alone. Making sure all of those payments are legitimate can be a huge undertaking. How can a business with so many customers depending on it ensure that all of the money switching hands does so legally?

Companies can find the answer in predictive modeling software. Hui Wang, PayPal's senior director of global risk sciences, told The Predictive Analytics Times her team is already putting predictive analytics tools to work to examine data their customers gave them in the past. With the use of big data and algorithms, the system can gauge which transactions are valid and which could potentially be fraudulent. 

Ensuring financial safety
PayPal uses predictive analytics to scour data related to what kind of device patrons might make a payment on, where they are located and if all of this information correlates with the person's profile information and account they have with the site. Inputting all this data makes the predictive tools that much more adept at spotting illegal transactions so PayPal can stop them or anticipate them, according to Tech Target. 

Predictive analytics software is a necessity for businesses much like PayPal that need to deliver accurate and fast results to consumers, but also ensure thieves aren't targeting their customers. As the transaction provider continues to grow, it must stay abreast of the ever-changing and complex schemes fraudsters try to throw its way. With that said, analytic solutions help enterprises keep on top of threats to their bottom line and to their customers' sensitive financial data.

To keep regular customers happy, PayPal's predictive analytics tools can quickly identify which patrons are trustworthy and fast-track their business dealings while at the same time slowing down transactions that appear suspect, InfoWorld reported.  

Safeguarding your company reputation
Not only are predictive analytics an extra weapon in the fight against fraudsters, they're also an additional tool companies may use to safeguard their reputations with the public. Data breaches and fraudulent transactions deteriorate not only a business's bottom line but also customer trust. After experiencing a large scale breach of its system, Target paid out $67 million in claims to Visa card holders alone after hackers gained unauthorized access to customer financial information. Predictive analytics tools can help enterprises head threats off at the pass.