We've mentioned PayByCash multiple times on the site before, because they provide payment systems -- including a prepaid card sold in stores -- to a variety of virtual worlds, including everything from Age of Conan to Puzzle Pirates, and they have recently announced PaxGuard, a system to reduce payment fraud-related expenses and lost revenue.

PaxGuard uses "a suite of detection rules and fraud detection technologies," to determine the risk of fraud, and is configurable by developers/publishers based on their perceived level of risk. "Merchants can set their risk tolerance as low as they like and not turn away legitimate, paying customers," explained the release.

In addition, PaxGuard offers "on-demand reports" to allow users to examine the level of fraud they are experiencing.

"Proprietary elements of PaxGuard have long been used by PayByCash to cut fraud rates for our merchants," said Kevin Higgins, president of PayByCash. "Now we've layered in technology from strategic partners with complementary approaches to fighting fraud. What we have now is something remarkably effective and comprehensive, a phenomenally powerful product. It's the only fraud protection solution that protects merchants across a broad range of payment methods. This is critical in an environment where more merchants are accepting numerous payment methods."