Guest: Dajana Gajic-Fisic
If you work in retail fraud, you know Q4 is not the time to figure things out as you go. It is the time when every weak process gets exposed, every decision gets faster, and every gap between teams gets more expensive. That is why this conversation matters.
In this episode, I talk with Dajana Gajic-Fisic, Head of e-commerce fraud and risk management for JD Sports North America, about what a real holiday fraud prevention strategy looks like inside a major retail organization. And this is not theory. It is practical. It is operational. It is what fraud teams actually need when the busiest sales period of the year is coming fast.
We get into retail fraud operations, Q4 fraud preparation, and the reality that more sales volume usually means more fraud pressure too. Especially during an economic downturn, when demand patterns shift, gift card risk rises, and internal teams are all moving quickly. That combination usually creates openings criminals are happy to use.
What also stands out in this conversation is that Dajana is not just talking about planning. She is talking about execution. That includes removing manual review from her team with confidence, improving fraud team efficiency, and building strong cross-functional fraud collaboration so fraud is not operating in a silo when peak season hits.
Here is what that holiday fraud prevention strategy means in practice:
- Fraud teams need clear plans before Q4 volume starts, not halfway through it
- Retail fraud operations work better when fraud, support, payments, and leadership are aligned early
- Manual review removal can improve consistency and scale when the right controls are in place
- Fraud prevention for peak season depends on both technical controls and operational discipline
What you’ll hear in this episode:
- How Dajana approaches holiday fraud prevention strategy inside a top retail environment
- What Q4 fraud preparation looks like when a retailer depends heavily on holiday revenue
- Why manual review removal can be the right move for some fraud teams
- How cross-functional fraud collaboration strengthens retail fraud planning
- What retailer fraud leadership needs to communicate clearly to executives during peak season
You should listen to this episode if you:
- Lead or support retail fraud operations during the holiday season
- Want a stronger holiday fraud prevention strategy grounded in real ecommerce risk management
- Are exploring manual review removal to improve fraud team efficiency
- Need better cross-functional fraud collaboration across fraud, operations, and leadership
- Are responsible for fraud prevention for peak season and want a more durable operational fraud strategy
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Episode notes & key takeaways
Why holiday fraud prevention strategy has to start before peak season
Let’s break this down.
One of the biggest themes in this episode is that holiday fraud prevention strategy is really about preparation, not reaction. That sounds obvious. But in retail, it is easy for teams to get pulled into responding to volume instead of preparing for it. And those are not the same thing.
Dajana talks about the reality many retailers face, especially the ones selling popular consumer goods, digital gift cards, and other high-demand products. Q4 can represent a huge percentage of annual revenue. So when fraud pressure rises during that period, the cost of poor decisions gets amplified fast. That includes missed fraud, blocked good customers, slow reviews, and operational friction across multiple teams.
This is where strong retail fraud planning really matters.
Because the issue is not just that more orders come in. It is that more orders come in while expectations are higher, timelines are tighter, and internal teams are stretched. That is the environment where holiday fraud trends start to matter more than usual.
- Holiday fraud prevention strategy needs to account for volume, urgency, and tighter service expectations
- Q4 fraud preparation works best when teams identify pressure points before the holiday rush
- Seasonal ecommerce risk increases when strong demand overlaps with operational strain
- Fraud prevention for peak season is as much about preparation as it is about detection
How retail fraud operations improve when manual review is removed thoughtfully
This is where things get interesting.
A big part of this conversation is Dajana’s decision to remove all manual review functions from her team. And honestly, that is the kind of move that gets people’s attention for a reason. For a lot of teams, manual review feels like the safety net. It feels like the thing standing between you and chaos.
But that is not always true.
What Dajana makes clear is that manual review removal is not about taking fraud seriously less. It is about building enough confidence in your systems, signals, and processes that you are not depending on human review to hold everything together. And for high-volume retail, that can be a very important distinction.
Because if your fraud program only works when analysts are manually sorting through queues during the busiest quarter of the year, that is probably not a scalable model. It may feel controlled. But it can also slow approvals, create inconsistency, and make it harder to keep up when order volume spikes.
That is the part fraud teams should care about.
- Manual review removal can improve fraud team efficiency when decisioning is stable and well-tested
- Retail fraud operations need scalable processes during holiday peaks, not just more analyst hours
- Ecommerce risk management gets stronger when teams reduce dependence on reactive review queues
- Operational fraud strategy should focus on consistency, speed, and confidence at scale
Why cross-functional fraud collaboration matters more in Q4
Here’s what’s actually happening.
During the holiday season, fraud teams do not operate in isolation, even if some companies still act like they do. Decisions made in fraud affect customer experience, payments, support, fulfillment, returns, and executive reporting. So if those teams are not aligned before peak season, problems show up quickly.
This is one of those patterns I see over and over.
Fraud can have the right answer operationally and still struggle if the rest of the organization does not understand the tradeoffs. That is why cross-functional fraud collaboration matters so much. It helps teams set expectations early, communicate risk clearly, and avoid last-minute confusion when fraud pressure rises.
Dajana also talks about showing the value and knowledge inside the fraud department to leadership. And that part matters too. Because retailer fraud leadership is not just about stopping bad orders. It is about helping the broader business understand what fraud sees, why those insights matter, and how they support revenue protection in practical terms.
- Cross-functional fraud collaboration helps retail teams respond faster and more consistently in Q4
- Leadership communication in fraud matters most when revenue pressure and risk pressure rise together
- Retailer fraud leadership should translate fraud decisions into business impact the rest of the company understands
- Fraud teams are more effective when they are treated as strategic partners, not just approval gatekeepers
What smart teams should focus on for holiday retail risk
So what should fraud leaders take from this?
First, be honest about where your biggest Q4 risks are likely to show up. High-demand products. Gift cards. Promotions. Refund pressure. Operational shortcuts. Internal bottlenecks. Those are usually the places worth watching closely.
Second, look hard at whether your current setup actually supports fraud team efficiency during peak season. Not just on paper. In real life. Can your team scale decisions without burying analysts? Can you explain fraud choices clearly to leadership? Can you keep pace without creating too much friction for good customers?
And third, make sure your holiday fraud prevention strategy is actually operational. That means more than having a slide deck or a meeting. It means having workflows, ownership, escalation paths, and enough alignment across teams to keep decisions steady when things get busy.
Right.
Because the holidays are not usually the moment to invent a new process from scratch. They are the moment when your existing process proves whether it was built well in the first place.
- Gift card fraud prevention should be part of retail fraud planning before seasonal demand accelerates
- Fraud prevention for peak season works better when teams focus on operational readiness, not just tool changes
- Holiday fraud trends often exploit rushed processes, misalignment, and pressure on customer-facing teams
- Strong ecommerce risk management depends on decisions that can hold up under volume
The big takeaway from this episode is pretty straightforward. A strong holiday fraud prevention strategy is not just about catching more fraud in Q4. It is about building retail fraud operations that can handle pressure without falling apart. Dajana shares a practical view of what that looks like, from planning ahead and improving fraud team efficiency to removing manual review and strengthening cross-functional fraud collaboration. And honestly, that is the kind of work that tends to hold up well beyond the holiday season.
