MasterCard unites Top Fraud Fighters to Wipe Out Phishing, ID Theft and other Forms of Fraud

MasterCard International is assembling a host of industry, law enforcement, and academic heavyweights at a conference to discuss new techniques to combat identity theft, phishing, skimming and other forms of payment fraud.

The MasterCard Global Risk Management Symposium will take place in San Diego from June 22 to June 24 and will address those issues head-on in feature addresses from leading experts.

Those expected to speak include the Honorable Lee R. Heath of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Honorable Wayne Abernathy of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, John Large of the U.S. Secret Service, and Dr. Gary Gordon, head of the Economic Crime Institute at Utica College as well as MasterCard executives and other industry professionals. They will explore the depths of industry fraud knowledge and experience, through a series of presentations, discussions, workshops and training.

"With existing and emerging fraud schemes breaking every day, navigating the tide of change requires extensive understanding of the tools and strategies necessary to combat payment systems fraud," said Sergio Piñòn, senior vice president of MasterCard Security & Risk Services.

More than 300 elite professionals from law enforcement, financial services, and other related industries are expected to attend and learn about issues such as identity theft, e-commerce fraud, and ATM fraud, as well as terrorism and other threats to financial institutions. In addition, participants will discuss new advances in chip technology and new card products. 

The symposium comes at a time when identity theft and other forms of credit card fraud are on the rise. The Federal Trade Commission has reported that identity theft has been the No. 1 consumer complaint for four consecutive years.

"Phishing" attacks, which use fraudulent e-mails and Web sites to lure consumers into divulging personal financial information, also have increased significantly. According to the most recent data from the Anti-Phishing Working Group, there were 1,125 unique attacks in April - a 180 percent increase over March.

During the symposium, MasterCard said it will make a groundbreaking announcement on a new partnership that represents a fundamental shift in how the industry tackles emerging forms of payment fraud.

"We are now at the point where fraud prevention and fraud containment are no longer enough," said Piñòn. "Our new partnership enables us to aggressively shut down online fraud schemes before card accounts are compromised and identities are stolen."