Ethoca Joins Merchant Risk Council as Signature Sponsor

Vice President, Steve Frook, to present on Collaborating to Defeat Internet Fraud at 6th Annual MRC Conference.

Dublin, Ireland and Seattle, WA (PRWEB) February 22, 2008 — Ethoca, the leader in collaborative fraud management, announced today that it has joined the Merchant Risk Council (MRC) as a Signature Sponsor. The MRC is the retail industry's leading trade association dedicated to preventing online fraud and promoting secure e-commerce in global online payments.

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"One of the goals of the Merchant Risk Council is to foster collaboration between online businesses to prevent online fraud, and make the Internet the preferred place to shop and conduct business," said Andre Edelbrock, Ethoca's President & CEO. "As the provider of the leading global anti-fraud network for collaboration, Ethoca absolutely supports the MRC's mission, and is privileged to join as a Signature Sponsor."

The MRC and its mission continue to grow in importance as e-commerce continually expands its footprint in the overall economy. According to the National Retail Foundation, online sales in the US totaled $259 billion in 2007, growing 18% over 2006. The US Census Bureau estimates that ecommerce sales now constitute 3.4% of all retail sales. Although mainstream acceptance of online shopping has taken off in recent years, numerous studies continue to show that consumer fears of online shopping safety and fraud are limiting the speed of growth, despite the obvious convenience and time-saving factors.

"The MRC is pleased to welcome Ethoca as a Signature Sponsor member," said Tom Donlea, Executive Director, Merchant Risk Council. "Ethoca's solutions and commitment to collaborative fraud management complement the MRC's mission to prevent online fraud and promote secure e-commerce."

Ethoca VP, Steve Frook to present at MRC Annual Conference

Steve Frook, Ethoca VP, is scheduled to present at the 6th Annual Merchant Risk Council Conference being held in Las Vegas, March 4-6, 2008. Mr. Frook's talk titled "Collaborating to Defeat Internet Fraud: Better Information Equals Higher Profit" will discuss the practice of "experience sharing" as a technique to more accurately assess transaction risk. By working together to create a more complete picture of their collective payment fraud experiences, merchants have the opportunity to sharply curtail the need for manual reviews to dramatically reduce labor costs, increase the level of process automation to lower operational expense, safely accept a large percentage of the orders that are falsely rejected to increase revenues and profitability, and create a better customer experience for improved loyalty. He will also describe how such a collaborative system is implemented in Ethoca's global fraud-fighting network.

About The Merchant Risk Council
The Merchant Risk Council (MRC), the retail industry's leading trade association for preventing online fraud and promoting secure e-commerce, is dedicated to working with merchants and law enforcement to make the Internet a safer place to do business. The MRC's mission is to foster a secure e-commerce environment and ensure the Internet is a safe and preferred place to shop and do business. The MRC is made up of more than 7,500 members including 120 of the world's largest Internet retailers who account for approximately 15 percent of all e-commerce revenue.

The MRC Board of Directors and Advisors consists of leading industry professionals, e-commerce retailers, solution providers, and financial institutions and includes representatives from Expedia, Adobe Systems, Neiman Marcus Direct, Apple, BestBuy.com, CyberSource, Discover Network, Microsoft, Visa Inc., Blizzard Entertainment, Chase Paymentech, Gap Inc. Direct, iovation, Neopets/MTV Networks, T-Mobile USA, Inc., The 41st Parameter, and Trustwave. The MRC headquarters are in Seattle, Washington. To learn more about the MRC, visit: www.merchantriskcouncil.org

About Ethoca Limited (www.ethoca.com)
Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, with offices in Toronto, Canada, Ethoca is the leader in collaborative fraud management. Ethoca enables businesses operating in any customer-not-present environment (i.e., business by internet, phone, fax or mail) to make more informed decisions about their customer transactions by sharing transaction experience data in a way that is secure, automated, effective and ethical. Businesses submit transaction data to Ethoca and can use summary history and analysis based on the collaborative data of Ethoca's clients to gauge the fraud-risk associated with any given transaction.

Ethoca's community includes a number of leading and recognized companies and payment and fraud solution provider partners from around the world.

Ethoca's clients increase profits by finding the optimal balance between allowed transactions and fraud-risk levels, and fraud management costs. Ethoca's use of independent third-party business process and data integrity audits ensures that the privacy and security of data is maintained. For more information about Ethoca visit www.ethoca.com.

Ethoca(TM) is a registered trademark of Ethoca Limited.