In 2025, the cost of merchant risk keeps climbing. Digital commerce is expanding fast — and so is fraud. Global ecommerce losses from online fraud are expected to exceed $343 billion between 2023 and 2027 [1].

For many platforms, manual underwriting has become a bottleneck. It’s slow, expensive, and nearly impossible to scale.

Automation is changing that — helping teams identify and stop risky merchants before they cause financial or reputational damage.

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Manual Underwriting: A Hidden Cost

Manual underwriting looks simple on the surface but quickly drains resources as volume grows.

• High operational cost. Analysts spend hours gathering and verifying data.
  
• Inconsistent reviews. Human judgment varies, leading to unpredictable results.
  
• Slow onboarding. Merchants drop off when approvals take days instead of minutes.
  
• Higher exposure. Manual reviews can’t keep pace with modern fraud tactics like synthetic IDs or bust-out schemes.
  
  

The result? Slower growth, greater risk, and teams stuck in reactive mode.

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Automation That Scales

Automated underwriting helps risk teams move faster — and smarter.
It replaces repetitive checks with AI-driven analysis, giving analysts a full view of merchant legitimacy in seconds.

Modern systems handle:

• KYB / KYC checks automatically.
  
• AI website scans for legitimacy, compliance, and content risk.
  
• Entity verification across sanctions lists and legal databases.
  
• MCC / NAICS classification to catch restricted or policy-violating activity.
  
  

Analysts stay in control — just focused on the edge cases that matter.

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Faster Onboarding, Smarter Growth

Automation shortens review cycles and boosts approval accuracy.

• Speed. Onboarding drops from days to seconds.
  
• Fraud prevention. Sophisticated actors get blocked before transacting.
  
• Efficiency. Analysts shift from manual checks to strategy and investigation.
  
  

It’s the difference between managing risk and scaling confidently.

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AI That Sees What Humans Miss

AI can find patterns no human team could spot at scale.

Coris’s SiteRating analyzes hundreds of signals — website content, tone, product mix, legitimacy — and converts them into a standardized risk score.

Paired with MerchantProfiler, it creates a full picture of merchant risk by:

• Verifying locations through Google Street View.
  
• Scanning global databases for bankruptcies or legal actions.
  
• Cross-referencing device and IP data to catch spoofing.
  
  

Together, they give risk teams real-time visibility — and faster, sharper decisioning.

Learn more about SiteRating.

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Fraud Is Evolving

Refund abuse and friendly fraud have become major pain points.

• 57% of merchants report rising refund abuse; 47% say it’s now their top fraud vector [2].
  
• 63% see higher levels of friendly fraud [3].
  
  

The damage extends beyond a single transaction. When you factor in fees, operations, and acquisition costs, the true cost of a chargeback can reach three times the transaction value [4].

The lesson is simple: stop high-risk merchants before they start.

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Continuous Monitoring: Stay Ahead

Risk doesn’t stop at onboarding.
A merchant’s behavior, website, or reviews can shift overnight. Continuous monitoring gives teams an early warning.

Automated systems track:

• Spikes in chargebacks or refunds.
  
• Negative reviews with “fraud” or “scam” keywords.
  
• Major website or policy changes.
  
• Signs of financial distress or shutdowns.
  
  

When signals trigger, platforms can hold funds, review activity, or offboard merchants before losses occur.

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Why Coris

Modern risk programs need precision, speed, and visibility.

Coris delivers all three:

• Unified platform connecting onboarding, underwriting, and monitoring.
  
• AI models trained specifically on merchant risk patterns.
  
• Global data coverage for context and accuracy.
  
• API-first design that integrates easily with processors and platforms.
  
  

It’s risk infrastructure built for scale — fast, connected, and intelligent.

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Scale With Confidence

Manual underwriting isn’t sustainable. It slows growth and exposes teams to preventable losses.

Automation isn’t just an upgrade — it’s the new baseline for merchant risk management.

Coris gives platforms and fintechs the infrastructure to detect faster, decide smarter, and scale safely.
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Because in 2025, confidence comes from control.