FT3 created the shared fraud taxonomy for practitioners.
FT3 2.0 sets it in motion: agents reason over it and shape its evolution.

Fraud does not hold still. FT3 2.0 gives practitioners and agents a machine-readable model of attacker behavior they can query, compare, and challenge. Techniques connect to the information needed to investigate them and to relevant analytics, detections, and controls. As new intelligence arrives, agents surface gaps and candidate changes; practitioners decide what the evidence supports.

See how it worksRequest access
Fig. 1 · A flat matrix, resolved into a connected model

01 · Agentic commerce

Built for commerce where software acts on someone’s behalf

Commerce actions can pass from an actor through automation into a payment API. FT3 2.0 records who directed the activity, what software acted, which surface it touched, and what evidence supports each claim. In this card-testing example, automation is established, AI involvement is suspected, and no named protocol is established. Defensive agents can work through that record without treating a suspicion as an observed fact.

Fig. 2 · Card testing, recorded with its automation context

  1. 01 ADVERSARY

    DIRECTS THE ACTIVITY

    • EXAMPLE CARD TESTING

    ↓ OPERATES

  2. 02 AUTOMATION

    SCRIPTS OR BOTS

    • AI INVOLVEMENT SUSPECTED
    • EVIDENCE BASIS NARRATIVE ONLY

    ↓ ACTS ON

  3. 03 PAYMENT SURFACE

    PAYMENT APIS

    • ACTION PERFORMED INITIATING A TRANSACTION
    • NAMED PROTOCOL NOT ESTABLISHED

The pattern is clear. The attribution is earned.

Repeated payment attempts establish automation. FT3 2.0 keeps the next questions open: was an AI agent involved, and did it use a named commerce protocol? In this case, AI involvement is suspected; the protocol is not established. That gives investigative agents a precise record to work from and a way to strengthen it as evidence arrives.

Same attempts, three claims

PAYMENT ATTEMPTS · UNIFORM INTERVAL

  • AUTOMATED ESTABLISHED
  • AI AGENT SUSPECTED
  • NAMED PROTOCOL NOT ESTABLISHED

02 · What changed

From a flat matrix to a multidimensional map

Start with a technique. See it across tactic, authorization state, and abuse family. FT3 2.0 keeps the connections visible as practitioners and agents move through the taxonomy.

Fig. 3 · One cell in FT3 1.0 becomes a connected record in FT3 2.0
FT3 1.0
FT008 · TACTIC
FT3 2.0
FT008 → TACTIC · AUTHORIZATION STATE · ABUSE FAMILY

One behavior.
Three ways to understand it.

Each technique is classified by the role it plays in the fraud, how authority is involved, and what is being abused. Card testing, for example:

  • Role in the fraud

    Fraud Execution / Fraud Event

    What role the behavior plays.

  • Authorization status

    Unauthorized

    How authority is involved in the action.

  • What is abused

    Payment & value transfer

    What the behavior exploits.

03 · What it enables

A description that leads to defense

FT3 connects each technique to the information worth examining, the patterns to look for, investigation approaches, and controls to consider, including where those controls fall short.

Fig. 4 · Card testing, connected to what a team needs to investigate it

TECHNIQUE · CARD TESTING

  1. 01 INFORMATION TO EXAMINE

    • PAYMENT ATTEMPTS
    • AUTHORIZATION OUTCOMES
    • CLIENT OR API REQUEST CONTEXT
    • OPTIONAL CORROBORATION
    • CHARGEBACK OR DISPUTE RECORDS

  2. 02 PATTERNS TO LOOK FOR

    • REPEATED LOW-VALUE AUTHORIZATION ATTEMPTS

  3. 03 INVESTIGATION APPROACH

    • CARD-TESTING PAYMENT AUTHORIZATION PATTERN

  4. 04 WAYS TO REDUCE RISK

    • PAYMENT-ATTEMPT RATE LIMITING
    • BOT CHALLENGES

Acheron keeps the framework growing.

Acheron turns fraud intelligence into additions to FT3. Agents identify the techniques described in incoming intelligence, and other agents integrate newly identified techniques into the framework.

Fig. 5 · From fraud intelligence to new FT3 techniques

  1. INTELLIGENCE SOURCES

    SOURCE 01 · SOURCE 02 · SOURCE 03

  2. 01 IDENTIFY TECHNIQUES

    AGENTS

  3. 02 INTEGRATE INTO FT3

    AGENTS

  4. FT3

04 · The project

FT3

Created by
Vincent Passaro
Framework
FT3 2.0
Catalog version
2.1.0
Format
STIX 2.1
Access
By request

I created FT3 to give fraud teams a consistent way to describe behavior, compare cases, and connect what happened to the knowledge needed to investigate it.

FT3 2.0 is the framework generation. The current catalog is version 2.1.0, published as STIX 2.1. I share FT3 2.x through practitioner trust groups and direct requests.

The public source repository covers FT3 1.0. Access to 2.x is separate.

View the FT3 1.0 project ↗

Precedence record

  1. FT3 / DARKSHEERFT3 authored by Vincent Passaro internally at Stripe
  2. FT3 / DARKSHEERFT3 presentation submitted to FS-ISAC for Spring Summit, 2025
  3. FS-ISACFS-ISAC declines the FT3 presentation
  4. FS-ISACFS-ISAC launches their own fraud framework — Cyber Fraud Prevention Framework (CFPF)
  5. FT3 / DARKSHEERFT3 is made public on GitHub (STIX, CSV)
  6. RH-ISAC + TARGETRetail ISAC creates their own fraud taxonomy
  7. MITRE CTIDMITRE publishes F3 STIX 2.1 bundle
  8. MITRE CTIDMITRE CTID launches F3, drawing on FT3.
  9. FT3 / DARKSHEERVincent Passaro ships "Acheron" — the FIRST intelligence-sourced AGENTIC FRAMEWORK — powering FT3
  10. FT3 / DARKSHEERFT3 2.0 ships — intelligence-sourced, agent-authored, machine-readable: the fraud framework that finally names delegated-authority abuse.

Want access to FT3 2.x?

Email me with the subject “FT3 access request”. Include who you are, what you work on, and how you could contribute.

Request access

05 · F3 and FT3

When to use FT3 and MITRE F3

MITRE F3 draws on FT3, and its first release focuses on fraud as seen by banking institutions. FT3 was built inside a payments processor, so it maps the techniques fraudsters use against payment and platform technology, tied to detections and controls. Use F3 as a common vocabulary when communicating about fraud with banks and other institutions; use FT3 when your team needs technique-level detection and controls across payment and platform technology.

FT3 gives a fraud team one shared language for the techniques attackers use. FT3 is an ATT&CK-style matrix for fraud techniques, with 14 tactics and 215 techniques in the current catalog.

Source: MITRE F3 Design Principles and Methodology (opens in a new tab)

F3 can help normalize the category. FT3 made the category usable.

Read the FT3 vs MITRE F3 essay

06 · FAQ

Frequently asked questions

01Who created FT3?

Vincent Passaro created FT3 (Fraud Tools, Tactics, and Techniques), a fraud framework. FT3 1.0 is open source under the MIT license at https://github.com/stripe/ft3.

02What is FT3?

FT3 (Fraud Tools, Tactics, and Techniques) is a fraud framework created by Vincent Passaro. It gives fraud teams a consistent way to describe attacker behavior, compare cases, and connect each technique to the knowledge needed to investigate it. FT3 2.0 is a machine-readable model that practitioners and AI agents can query, compare, and challenge.

03What is the difference between FT3 1.0 and FT3 2.x?

FT3 1.0, at github.com/stripe/ft3, was the first publicly available ATT&CK-style matrix for fraud on GitHub (July 2025): a flat matrix of fraud tactics and techniques. FT3 2.x, released July 2026, is the first ATT&CK-style fraud matrix designed for agentic commerce, classifying each technique by tactic, authorization state and abuse family.

04How does FT3 compare with MITRE ATT&CK and MITRE F3?

MITRE ATT&CK describes cyber intrusions; FT3 1.0 adapted its tactics-and-techniques model to fraud. MITRE’s Fight Fraud Framework (F3) was built in part from FT3: MITRE’s F3 methodology lists FT3 among four prior fraud models “analyzed through empirical use examples and fused” into F3. FT3 2.0 goes further, classifying each technique by tactic, authorization state, and abuse family.

Source: MITRE F3 Design Principles and Methodology (opens in a new tab)

05Can AI agents use FT3?

Yes. FT3 2.0 is designed to serve both analysts and agents: a machine-readable model, published as STIX 2.1, that agents can query and reason over. Each record separates what is established from what is only suspected, so defensive agents do not treat a suspicion as fact. Acheron uses agents to identify new techniques in incoming fraud intelligence.

06Is FT3 open source, and how do I get access to FT3 2.0?

FT3 1.0 is open source under the MIT license at github.com/stripe/ft3. FT3 2.x is not distributed through a public repository; Vincent Passaro shares it through vetted TLP trust groups and by direct request. To ask, email him from the contact page with the subject “FT3 access request”, saying who you are, what you work on, and how you could contribute.