Amsterdam-based ChronoPay B.V., an online merchant account provider for accepting credit and debit card payments, has joined up with online fraud-fighter, the Merchant Risk Council (MRC). ChronoPay adds its name to 6,500 online retailers, vendors, financial institutions and law enforcement agencies that make up the MRC.
Begun as the Merchant Fraud Squad, spearheaded by American Express, ClearCommerce, and Expedia in 2000, the MRC is the offspring of a merger with Hewlett-Packard-founded Internet Fraud RoundTable in 2002. The group’s mission is to identify and support Internet technologies that help guard against fraudlent activity.
The MRC works with federal and local law enforcement agencies such as the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service, the U.S Department of Justice and the U.S. Postal Inspectors to help catch and prosecute cyber criminals.
“ChronoPay has always been committed to a safe, secure Online shopping experience for our Merchants and the consumers who support them,” said Ido Schiferli, ChronoPay’s European Marketing Manager.
“Helping merchants understand what constitutes good fraud prevention practices in the marketplace today will contribute to the security of e-commerce as a whole.”
In April, the MRC released a report stating that online fraud rates were narrowing to the same levels as offline credit card fraud rates. Card-present fraudulent chargeback rates are usually less than 0.1% of sales. Forty-eight percent of online retailers surveyed said their chargeback rates matched that rate, a significant improvement over previous years.
“The numbers show a very positive trend, but fraud still requires vigilance from online retailers,” said Julie Fergerson, co-chairman of the Merchant Risk Council.
“As fraud prevention tools gain widespread use, their effectiveness declines, and fraudsters are always looking for ways to ‘beat the system.’ Most of our members realize this, and 76% of them have either maintained or increased their review staff levels, thus keeping their shoppers safe.”
The MRC recommends that online retailers use a variety of fraud protection tools. These include: Address Verification Systems (used by 83% of online merchants), customer follow up (81%), the use of Card Verification Codes (75%), real time authorization on the use of credit cards (67%) and post process fraud management – following up with the consumers when the order looks suspicious -(64%).
