Andrews: Once we encounter a situation where we believe a transaction may be fraudulent, that's where we may kick in with an investigation, working with law-enforcement agencies. Some of these cases are quite large and might involve organized groups that work the entire country, up and down the interstates, and we pursue those people by gathering evidence on their transactions and trying to identify who they are.

Our own systems provide us with information or clues on the person's patterns of behavior around the country or in a geographic area. We take all that information, combined with other open sources of information, and work with law enforcement to identify that person or organization in an attempt to make a criminal case against them.

Sometimes there are overlaps in which agencies we work with--if the criminal hits, say, in Georgia, then in New York, and then we see them working along the Eastern Seaboard. We can follow their behavior on a map and see patterns in the times these incidents are happening. Then we contact merchants to collect video images, receipts and a lot of other indicators.

It's key to have relationships with the law-enforcement agencies--we know who to call, and sometimes they're already working cases with the same types of indicators. We build an aggregated case, and if it goes across state lines, the federal agencies get involved, and we collaborate.

CSO: What is an example of a fraud indicator?