Guest: Shoshana Maraney
Today I am talking about fraud benchmarking in uncertain times, and honestly, this is one of those topics that hits a lot closer to home for fraud teams than people outside the space usually realize. Because uncertainty does not just affect budgets, hiring plans, and leadership decisions. It affects how fraud professionals think, react, prioritize, and carry stress.
I sat down with Shoshana Maraney to talk about what fraud teams are dealing with right now, and why benchmarking matters so much when it feels like the ground keeps moving. Because when expectations are high, resources are tight, and the economic environment is unstable, it gets a lot harder to tell whether what I am seeing is normal, fixable, or a sign that something is actually off.
That is where benchmarking becomes more than a reporting exercise.
It becomes a way to create context. A way to compare notes with peers. A way to understand whether my fraud program is underperforming, overcompensating, or doing better than I thought. And for fraud professionals who are already wired to spot risk, pressure, and what could go wrong next, that kind of external perspective can be incredibly useful.
This episode also gets into something I do not think enough people talk about. The same instincts that make fraud fighters good at their jobs can make workplace uncertainty harder to sit with. When I am trained to detect problems, anticipate attacks, and notice weak signals, I am also more likely to feel the weight of unstable environments, difficult leadership dynamics, and unclear expectations.
Yeah. That matters.
Shoshana and I also share a project we had been working on quietly for months, the first annual benchmarking survey for fraud professionals working in ecommerce and marketplaces. The goal is simple. Help the community learn from each other, understand where they stand, and make smarter decisions with real peer comparison in fraud instead of assumptions.
Here is what that fraud benchmarking in uncertain times means in practice:
- I need context from peers, not just pressure from internal expectations
- I need benchmarking fraud performance so I can see where my team actually stands
- I need fraud community insights that help reduce guesswork during unstable periods
- I need fraud strategy during downturns that is informed by real data, not panic
What you’ll hear in this episode:
- Why fraud benchmarking in uncertain times can help leaders make better decisions with less guesswork
- How fraud team stress and economic uncertainty in tech affect fraud professionals differently
- Why fraud industry benchmarking is valuable for ecommerce and marketplace teams
- What the fraud survey project is designed to give back to the fraud-fighting community
- How peer comparison in fraud can support fraud operations improvement and better strategy
You should listen to this episode if you:
- Lead or work on a fraud team and want stronger context for performance during uncertain times
- Need ecommerce fraud benchmarks or marketplace fraud benchmarking to compare your program against peers
- Are dealing with fraud team stress, shifting expectations, or economic uncertainty in tech
- Want practical fraud community learning instead of feeling like your team has to solve everything alone
- Care about fraud leadership during uncertainty and making smarter decisions with better data
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Episode notes & key takeaways
This episode is a little different, and that is part of why I think it matters. Yes, we talk about fraud benchmarking in uncertain times. But we also talk about the emotional and operational reality of working in fraud during periods when expectations are changing fast, resources may be shrinking, and people are being asked to do more with less. The benchmarking conversation matters because it gives teams something grounded to work from.
Why fraud benchmarking matters more during uncertain times
Let’s break this down.
When things feel stable, teams can usually evaluate performance with a little more confidence. Maybe not perfectly, but at least there is a baseline. In uncertain environments, that gets harder. Metrics can shift for reasons outside my control. Leadership priorities change. Budgets tighten. Hiring freezes show up. Risk appetites move around. And suddenly it becomes much harder to know whether my fraud program is behind, ahead, or simply adapting to the same pressure everyone else is feeling.
This is where fraud benchmarking in uncertain times becomes really useful.
Because benchmarking gives me context. It helps me compare my team’s experience with broader fraud industry benchmarking data instead of assuming that every challenge is unique to my organization. That kind of perspective can reduce noise, improve prioritization, and help fraud leaders make stronger decisions when everything around them feels less predictable.
- Fraud benchmarking in uncertain times helps teams separate real performance issues from broader market conditions
- Benchmarking fraud performance creates context when internal expectations are shifting
- Fraud strategy during downturns gets stronger when teams can compare against peers
- Fraud leadership during uncertainty depends on better external perspective, not just internal pressure
How uncertainty affects fraud professionals differently
One of the things Shoshana and I talk about in this episode is that fraud professionals are often wired in a very specific way. We are trained to look for patterns, detect anomalies, anticipate risk, and stay alert to what might go wrong. That is useful at work. Obviously. But it can also make uncertainty feel heavier.
And this is where the problem starts.
Because the same instincts that help me identify fraud threats can also make workplace instability harder to navigate. Challenging co-workers, shifting expectations, unclear priorities, unrealistic goals, economic pressure, all of that can hit differently when my brain is already built to look for weak signals and emerging risk.
This might not seem like a benchmarking issue at first. But it actually is connected. Fraud community insights and peer comparison in fraud can help reduce the isolation that a lot of professionals feel in periods like this. When I can see how other teams are operating, what they are dealing with, and where they are struggling too, it becomes easier to make decisions from a place of clarity instead of stress.
- Fraud team stress often increases when uncertainty and pressure stay high for long periods
- Economic uncertainty in tech can amplify the instincts fraud teams already rely on every day
- Fraud community learning helps professionals feel less isolated in difficult environments
- Peer comparison in fraud can support better decision-making and emotional clarity
Why the fraud survey project matters for the community
Here’s what’s actually happening.
This episode also introduces a project Shoshana and I had been working on for months, a fraud survey project designed to gather useful benchmarking data from fraud professionals working in ecommerce and marketplaces. The idea was not to create one more report that people skim and forget. It was to build something the community could actually learn from.
That is the part I care about.
Because for a long time, a lot of fraud teams have had to operate with limited visibility into how peers are staffed, measured, structured, and performing. That makes fraud operations improvement harder than it needs to be. If I do not know where others are struggling or succeeding, I am left guessing at what “good” even looks like.
The first annual merchant fraud survey was meant to create a more practical blueprint. A way for online merchants to better understand where they stand and how they can improve while navigating anti-fraud industry trends and a difficult business environment.
- The fraud survey project is designed to turn community input into practical learning
- Merchant fraud survey data can help teams understand how they compare with peers
- Ecommerce fraud benchmarks and marketplace fraud benchmarking create more useful decision context
- Fraud community insights are more valuable when they come from practitioners facing similar pressures
How benchmarking supports fraud operations improvement
At first glance, benchmarking can sound like a leadership exercise or something that only matters for presentations. But when you look closer, it is much more operational than that. Good benchmarking helps me evaluate process, staffing, priorities, tooling, and expectations with more accuracy.
Right.
If I know how peers are approaching similar challenges, I can ask better questions about my own environment. Am I underinvesting in something important. Am I overreacting to one issue while ignoring another. Are my goals realistic. Is my team carrying too much. Is my strategy aligned with what others in similar spaces are seeing.
This is exactly why fraud operations improvement is so tied to better comparison data. Not because every team should look the same. They should not. But because having a clearer view of the landscape makes it easier to identify where my own program needs work and where it may already be stronger than I realized.
- Fraud operations improvement starts with better visibility into what peers are doing
- Benchmarking fraud performance helps leaders ask sharper operational questions
- Fraud industry benchmarking can reveal gaps in process, priorities, or resourcing
- Fraud strategy during downturns improves when teams can calibrate against broader trends
Why community learning matters when the industry feels unstable
One of the best things about the fraud space is that when it is working well, people do share. They compare notes. They help each other. They build on each other’s experience. And during periods of instability, that kind of fraud community learning becomes even more important.
Because honestly, uncertainty has a way of making teams feel like they are on their own.
This episode is really a reminder that they are not. Whether the issue is leadership pressure, economic uncertainty in tech, changing fraud patterns, or internal stress, there is real value in building community knowledge instead of trying to white-knuckle every problem alone. That is part of why this benchmarking effort matters. It is not just about numbers. It is about perspective, connection, and giving fraud teams a more grounded way to move forward.
- Fraud community learning helps teams navigate uncertainty with more confidence
- Fraud benchmarking in uncertain times is as much about perspective as it is about metrics
- Community-driven data can support stronger fraud leadership during uncertainty
- Shared insight helps teams respond to anti-fraud industry trends with less guesswork
The big takeaway from this episode is pretty straightforward. Fraud benchmarking in uncertain times gives teams something a lot of them are missing when pressure is high, context. And context changes how I interpret performance, how I assess my strategy, and how I support the people doing the work. Shoshana and I talk about uncertainty, stress, community, and benchmarking because all of those things are connected. If fraud teams are going to navigate difficult periods well, they need more than instincts. They need perspective, peer learning, and a clearer sense of where they stand.
