Fidro Blog

Practical guides on fraud prevention, email validation, and chargeback protection for developers and product teams.

Tuning Fraud Thresholds: How to Balance Security and Conversion
Fraud Prevention 9 min read

Tuning Fraud Thresholds: How to Balance Security and Conversion

Setting fraud thresholds too high blocks real customers. Setting them too low lets fraud through. Learn how to find the right balance using precision, recall, and iterative tuning with risk score data.

Matt King Matt King · April 22, 2026
How to Block Disposable Emails in Laravel, Node.js, Python & PHP
Developer Guide 12 min read

How to Block Disposable Emails in Laravel, Node.js, Python & PHP

Code examples for blocking throwaway email signups in every major framework. Laravel validation rules, Express middleware, Django validators, Flask decorators, and raw PHP -- all using one API.

Matt King Matt King · April 21, 2026
Card Testing Attacks: How Fraudsters Validate Stolen Cards on Your Checkout
Fraud Prevention 10 min read

Card Testing Attacks: How Fraudsters Validate Stolen Cards on Your Checkout

Card testing attacks let fraudsters validate thousands of stolen card numbers through your checkout. Learn how these attacks work, the warning signs to watch for, and how to stop them with velocity limits, IP intelligence, and risk scoring.

Matt King Matt King · April 15, 2026
Account Takeover Prevention: A Developer's Guide
Fraud Prevention 12 min read

Account Takeover Prevention: A Developer's Guide

Account takeover attacks cost businesses $13 billion annually. Learn how ATOs work, the signals that indicate an attack, and how to build layered defenses using email, IP, and behavioral analysis.

Matt King Matt King · April 8, 2026
Email Bounce Rate: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Fix It
Email Security 9 min read

Email Bounce Rate: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Fix It

High email bounce rates damage your sender reputation and reduce inbox placement. Learn what causes bounces, how to calculate your bounce rate, and practical steps to bring it under control.

Matt King Matt King · April 1, 2026
How to Detect VPN and Proxy Users on Your Website
IP Intelligence 10 min read

How to Detect VPN and Proxy Users on Your Website

VPNs and proxies hide a user's real location and identity. Learn how VPN detection works, when to block VPN users, and how to implement IP intelligence in your application.

Matt King Matt King · March 25, 2026
Geolocation Fraud Detection: How Location Data Catches Bad Transactions
Fraud Prevention 8 min read

Geolocation Fraud Detection: How Location Data Catches Bad Transactions

IP geolocation reveals mismatches between where a customer says they are and where they actually are. Learn how location intelligence catches fraud that email and card checks miss.

Matt King Matt King · March 23, 2026
How to Reduce Your Stripe Chargeback Rate Below 1%
Fraud Prevention 9 min read

How to Reduce Your Stripe Chargeback Rate Below 1%

Exceeding 1% chargeback rate triggers Visa and Mastercard monitoring programs with fines up to $25,000/month. Here's a practical checklist for keeping your rate well below the threshold.

Matt King Matt King · March 17, 2026
What Are Disposable Emails and Why You Should Block Them
Email Security 7 min read

What Are Disposable Emails and Why You Should Block Them

Disposable emails let users create throwaway inboxes that bypass your verification flows. Learn how they work, why they damage your business, and how to detect them in real time.

Matt King Matt King · March 10, 2026
How Chargeback Fraud Works and How to Prevent It
Fraud Prevention 10 min read

How Chargeback Fraud Works and How to Prevent It

Chargeback fraud costs merchants billions annually. Learn the mechanics of friendly fraud, first-party fraud, and true fraud — and the practical steps to prevent chargebacks before they happen.

Matt King Matt King · March 6, 2026
Email Validation API Integration Guide: Best Practices for Developers
Developer Guide 9 min read

Email Validation API Integration Guide: Best Practices for Developers

A practical guide to integrating email validation into your signup flow. Learn where to validate, how to handle edge cases, and the patterns that reduce fraud without hurting conversion rates.

Matt King Matt King · March 1, 2026
How to Detect Disposable Emails in Your Signup Flow
Developer Guide 8 min read

How to Detect Disposable Emails in Your Signup Flow

A practical implementation guide for adding disposable email detection to your registration form. Covers API integration, response handling, user messaging, and the edge cases that trip up most implementations.

Matt King Matt King · February 28, 2026
Free Email Providers vs Disposable Emails: What's the Difference?
Email Security 6 min read

Free Email Providers vs Disposable Emails: What's the Difference?

Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook are free but legitimate. Mailinator, Guerrilla Mail, and 10MinuteMail are disposable and risky. Learn how to tell them apart and why the distinction matters for fraud prevention.

Matt King Matt King · February 18, 2026
Email Validation for SaaS: The Complete Guide
Email Security 12 min read

Email Validation for SaaS: The Complete Guide

Everything SaaS teams need to know about email validation — from basic format checks to advanced disposable detection, risk scoring, and integration patterns that protect revenue without killing conversions.

Matt King Matt King · February 5, 2026
The True Cost of Fake Signups: What We Found Analyzing 10,000 Accounts
Email Security 7 min read

The True Cost of Fake Signups: What We Found Analyzing 10,000 Accounts

We analyzed 10,000 SaaS signups to measure the real impact of fake accounts. The results: 23% used disposable emails, they cost 4.7x more in infrastructure per dollar of revenue, and they destroyed conversion metrics.

Matt King Matt King · January 22, 2026
What Is a Risk Score? How Fraud Risk Scoring Works
Fraud Prevention 7 min read

What Is a Risk Score? How Fraud Risk Scoring Works

A risk score is a numerical value that represents the likelihood a user or transaction is fraudulent. Learn how risk scores are calculated, what signals they incorporate, and how to use them in your application.

Matt King Matt King · January 8, 2026
IP Intelligence: How to Detect VPNs, Proxies, and Tor at Signup
Fraud Prevention 8 min read

IP Intelligence: How to Detect VPNs, Proxies, and Tor at Signup

IP intelligence reveals whether users are masking their location with VPNs, proxies, or Tor. Learn how IP analysis works, when anonymization is a fraud signal, and how to use it without blocking legitimate users.

Matt King Matt King · December 18, 2025
Free Tier Abuse: How to Protect Your SaaS Without Hurting Real Users
Fraud Prevention 8 min read

Free Tier Abuse: How to Protect Your SaaS Without Hurting Real Users

Free tiers drive growth but attract abuse. Learn how to detect multi-account fraud, disposable email signups, and resource exploitation while keeping the experience smooth for legitimate users.

Matt King Matt King · December 5, 2025
Stripe Radar vs Custom Fraud Prevention: When You Need Both
Fraud Prevention 8 min read

Stripe Radar vs Custom Fraud Prevention: When You Need Both

Stripe Radar provides baseline fraud protection, but it has blind spots. Learn when Radar is sufficient, when you need additional fraud detection, and how to layer them effectively.

Matt King Matt King · November 20, 2025
How to Fight a Stripe Chargeback (and Win)
Fraud Prevention 9 min read

How to Fight a Stripe Chargeback (and Win)

A practical guide to responding to Stripe chargebacks with compelling evidence. Learn which dispute reasons you can win, what evidence to submit, and how to automate the process.

Matt King Matt King · November 5, 2025
Pre-Transaction Fraud Detection: How to Catch Bad Actors Before Payment
Fraud Prevention 8 min read

Pre-Transaction Fraud Detection: How to Catch Bad Actors Before Payment

Pre-transaction fraud detection evaluates risk signals before payment is processed. Learn why validating emails, IPs, and geolocation before checkout prevents chargebacks and saves revenue.

Matt King Matt King · October 20, 2025
Adding Email Validation to Laravel: A Step-by-Step Guide
Developer Guide 10 min read

Adding Email Validation to Laravel: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to integrate real-time email validation into your Laravel application using a custom validation rule, service class, and queue job for async processing.

Matt King Matt King · October 1, 2025
Building a Fraud Prevention Middleware in Node.js
Developer Guide 11 min read

Building a Fraud Prevention Middleware in Node.js

A step-by-step tutorial for building Express middleware that validates emails, checks IPs, and scores risk before requests reach your application logic.

Matt King Matt King · September 15, 2025