Fraud Fighters: Merchant Risk Council

MThis month we're profiling the Merchant Risk Council (MRC), a global trade association for eCommerce and eSecurity professionals. MRC's goal of preventing fraud and making eCommerce and online payments safer and more reliable—along with its focus on “bottom-line business value” and demonstrable results—makes it an industry leader and an exceptional resource for any eCommerce, payments and risk management professional. TeleSign is pleased to be a US Premier member.Today more than 400 merchants in the Americas and Europe take advantage of MRC's educational resources and industry networking opportunities. And that is MRC's focus—networking and education.‍

Education and Resources

‍MRC makes available to its members more than 70 webinars per year. Topics range from the concept of bitcoin and best practices for cross-border payments, to building a risk management team and reducing and managing fraud. MRC also publishes whitepapers and industry reports, and 20 such publications—along with surveys, case studies, and presentations—are available on its website. SmartBrief, MRC's weekly member newsletter, guides readers through “breaking industry news, updates and reports” and briefs “fraud and payments professionals on the latest industry coverage.”

‍Networking at Global Conferences

‍MRC also hosts many events throughout the year, including four global conferences—the most recent of which was the MRC EU Platinum Meeting in Prague, providing 34 small-group discussions to facilitate collaboration and discussion about key issues of concern, as well as a live hacking demonstration, bypassing multiple security measures, by Gotz Shartner, founder of 8com GMBH & CO.KG.Upcoming events include:

• Women in Payments & Fraud EU Networking Event in November 2015, London, England; this event will explore “how women are making meaningful career contributions and what it means to be a successful payments manager or fraud analyst.”
• MRC Vegas in March 2016, Las Vegas, Nevada; this is the industry's premier conference and trade show, with more than 1,500 attendees expected. MRC Vegas is the largest global event and focuses on “payments and financial services innovation for connected commerce at the intersection of mobile, retail, marketing services, data and technology.” TeleSign will be exhibiting at Booth # 125.

‍

Networking Within Committees and Communities

‍To help its members network more locally and with others in their industry niche, MRC has various committees and communities to offer members “the advantages they need to learn and prosper within their sector.” The groups comprise both merchant and solution provider members, and are places where industry leaders come together to discuss trends, publish training and educational materials, and determine agendas for MRC's conferences. The following committees and communities are facilitated by MRC:

• Conference Committee (TeleSign Co-Founder and Vice President Ryan Disraeli among active members)
• Education Committee
• Fraud Community
• Gamer Safety Alliance
• Payments Community
• Law Enforcement Community (coming soon!)

Members can fill out the MRC Community Registration form here to join one of these committees.Cost of Fraud CalculatorMRC, in collaboration with Riskified, recently launched its Cost of Fraud Calculator to help online merchants “better understand the true financial impact of fraud for their business.” It illustrates to companies why they should invest in fraud operations in a way that more easily communicates to executive management the benefits of risk management.

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with a European office in Madrid, Spain, MRC was established as a not-for-profit organization in 2000 by merchant professionals, and it continues to pursue its goal of “promoting operational excellence for fraud, payments, and risk professionals within eCommerce.”"