Outbound sales for chargeback and fraud prevention companies

Cormac Repman
16 hours ago
5 min read

Selling to Fraud Prevention Companies: The Outbound Playbook for Fintech Sales Teams

Chargeback and fraud prevention is one of the most underserved verticals in B2B outbound sales. These companies are sitting on multi-million dollar budgets, facing constant pressure from payment networks and regulators, and yet they receive almost no targeted cold outreach. The reason is simple: most sales teams don't know how to reach them, or they assume fraud prevention is too technical or niche to warrant cold calling.

We've spent the last two years running outbound campaigns into this space. What we've learned is that fraud and chargeback prevention is actually one of the easiest verticals to break into if you understand the economic drivers and who actually makes the buying decision.

Why Fraud Prevention Companies Buy Now

The fraud prevention space is experiencing a generational shift. Payment fraud losses in the US alone exceeded $10 billion in 2024, and chargeback rates are climbing. Every point of improvement in false positive rates directly translates to recovered revenue.

Fraud prevention companies fall into a few categories:

Standalone fraud platforms operating independently (Sift, Kount, Forter) are under constant pressure to expand their customer base because their revenue is tied directly to transaction volume and monthly minimums.

Embedded fraud APIs (Stripe Radar, Square) have revenue built into the platform, but they're constantly selling add-ons and premium tiers.

Bank and processor fraud teams are stretched thin internally and buying external tools to expand their capacity without hiring.

The common thread: they all need to reach new customers or expand into new verticals, and they're actively looking for partnership and sales enablement support.

Who Actually Makes This Decision

This is where most outbound fails. The economic buyer in fraud prevention isn't the Head of Risk or Chief Risk Officer alone. You need to map three roles:

The VP of Sales or VP of Partnerships controls the budget for go-to-market programs. They care about customer acquisition cost, win rates, and pipeline velocity.

The Head of Solutions Engineering or Technical Sales owns the integration and proof of concept experience. They're the gatekeeper for whether a deal even makes it to evaluation.

The VP or Director of Product cares about feature parity and competitive positioning. In fraud prevention, product decisions are driven by what competitors ship.

Cold outreach works best when you're talking to the VP of Sales or Partnerships role first, because they control budget and can authorize meetings with the technical buyers.

The Channel Stack That Works

We've tested every channel into this space. Here's what actually works:

LinkedIn cold outreach generates the highest reply rate. Fraud prevention operators check LinkedIn regularly because they're looking for partnership opportunities. Target VPs and Directors with a message focused on a specific use case they haven't solved yet (chargeback reductions for SaaS, or false positive rates in travel).

Cold calling remains underutilized. Most fraud prevention companies have founder or small leadership teams who pick up the phone. A good call-in rate in this space is 15-20%, and if you get someone on the line, the conversation quality is high. They're used to talking about complex product problems and won't hang up if you know what you're discussing.

Email works, but only if personalized. Generic fraud prevention email templates get 1-2% open rates. Personalized research focused on their recent funding round, product launch, or expansion announcement gets 8-15% opens.

Industry events and webinars are effective for warming cold prospects. Fraud prevention conferences (like Merchant Risk Council events) are small enough that you can actually get face time with decision makers.

Building the Outbound Message

The biggest mistake teams make is leading with their product features. Fraud prevention buyers don't care that your tool has "machine learning" or "real-time analytics." They care that you've solved a specific problem they're facing right now.

Research the company first. Look at:

Customer logos on their website - which verticals are they winning in, and which are they losing to competitors

Recent fundraising announcements - what did they say their growth plan was

Product launches or press releases - what are they shipping, and where might there be gaps

Your own customer base - do any of your existing customers use them, and what are the integration pain points

Then write a message that's specific to that company. Here's the structure:

"I noticed you're expanding into [vertical]. We've helped [comparable company] reduce chargeback rates by [metric] in that same segment. Would make sense to grab 15 minutes next week to explore if there's a fit?"

The message needs to:

Show you know their business

Reference a specific metric or outcome

Make it easy to say yes

Imply that this isn't a standard pitch

Timing and Sequences

Fraud prevention has seasonal buying patterns. Q4 is brutal because every fraud team is dealing with holiday volume and merchant issues. Q1 is when budgets reset and priorities shift. Q2 and Q3 are your sweet spots for inbound conversation.

For sequences, we run:

Day 1: LinkedIn connection with personalized note

Day 5: Cold email with specific research and ask

Day 10: Second email with different angle or data point

Day 15: Final email with takeaway (not pushy)

Day 20: Phone call if you have a number

The entire sequence takes three weeks. After that, you're not getting this prospect now. Move them to a nurture stream and try again in six months when their business situation has changed.

The Objections You'll Hear (And How to Navigate Them)

"We already have a vendor for that."

This is the most common objection in fraud prevention. The move is to never argue that your solution is better. Instead: "That makes sense. Question for you: are they solving [specific problem you've researched] as well? We've found most legacy fraud platforms are strong in one area but have blind spots in [adjacent area]. That's usually where we add value."

"Send me more information."

Fraud prevention decision makers are busy. "More information" is code for "I'm not convinced yet." Instead of a deck, ask: "What would actually move the needle for you in the next 90 days? I can send you something specific to that rather than general info."

"We're good for now."

This one is real sometimes. The response: "Got it. What changes in your world over the next quarter that might make this relevant? Let's stay connected and I'll reach out then."

Building Real Relationships in the Space

The fraud prevention space is tight-knit. Most operators know each other. If you build real relationships with a few decision makers, they'll refer you to competitors and partners.

The way to build this: deliver genuine value before asking for anything.

Send relevant articles about chargeback trends or false positive benchmarks without expecting a response. If you see someone speaking at a conference, watch the talk and reference it specifically in a follow-up message. These small moves build credibility that cold outreach alone can't create.

Metrics That Matter

Track these numbers in your fraud prevention outreach:

Conversation rate: What percentage of prospects actually pick up or reply. In fraud prevention, 5-8% is good. 10%+ means your messaging is resonating.

Quality of conversation: How many of those conversations turn into real discovery calls. This should be 40-60% of conversations.

Average deal size: Fraud prevention deals are usually $5K-$50K annually depending on the platform. Know what you're chasing.

Competitive displacement: How many deals involve replacing an existing vendor. This number should be 60-70%. If it's lower, your messaging isn't specific enough.

We've helped fintech and insurtech companies build outbound programs that actually move the needle in fraud prevention. If you're looking to break into this vertical or scale what you're already doing, let's talk about building a real cold calling team.

[Book a time here](https://cal.com/nurturance/call) to discuss your outbound strategy with us directly.