New ETA Survey Finds Payments Companies Terminated More Than 10,000 Merchants for Fraud in 2013

July 14, 2014 – The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), the global trade association representing the payments technology world, announced today the results of a survey of its membership which found that respondents discharged more than 10,000 merchants for fraud in 2013.  The survey, along with ETA’s Guidelines on Merchant and ISO Underwriting and Risk Monitoring, are part of ETA’s larger efforts to demonstrate the payments industry’s long-standing commitment to combating consumer fraud.  These initiatives are in light of a recent federal law enforcement campaign, Operation Choke Point, which targets payments companies in an effort to “choke off” financing sources for industries deemed “high-risk.”

“Although well intentioned, the federal agencies supporting Operation Choke Point are aiming in the wrong direction.  By targeting payments companies instead of fraudulent merchants, the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force is ignoring the payments industry’s massive efforts to identify and eliminate fraud,” said Jason Oxman, CEO of ETA. “Federal law enforcement officials should understand that we make a better partner than a target in the effort to choke off fraud – but unfortunately Operation Choke Point continues unabated.”

Despite the Operation Choke Point effort to target payments companies, ETA and its member companies have deployed guidelines and other tools to augment industry efforts to fight fraud. The Guidelines were developed by a working group of dozens of ETA member companies and provides ETA Members the latest and most effective strategies for underwriting and mitigating fraud and risk. The survey reported a representative sample of the number of merchants that ETA members dropped from the payment system in 2013 because of merchant fraud.

For media inquiries, contact Meghan Cieslak at 202-677-7406 or [email protected].

About ETA

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) is the global trade association representing more than 500 payments and technology companies. ETA members make commerce possible by processing more than $4.5 trillion in purchases in the U.S. and deploying payments innovations to merchants and consumers.