The leader in collaborative fraud management, Ethoca, today announced 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.

"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. Online sales in the US totaled $259 billion in 2007, growing 18% over 2006, according to the National Retail Foundation. The US Census Bureau estimates that ecommerce sales now constitute 3.4% of all retail sales. 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, although mainstream acceptance of online shopping has taken off in recent years.

"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."

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.