“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”
Except… if you were at the Merchant Risk Council (MRC) Annual Meeting this week like we were!
MRC events are usually boring and all they talk about is the F word: fraud. Literally every session, every conversation, every second word at the conference is “fraud”. It’s a super important issue in payments and retail, but it’s also super boring!
This year however, there actually was at least one non-boring session. It touched on our favorite subject – refunds – and was called “Refund Fraud – Fraud as a Service: Have We Created A Monster?” Talk about killing the mood! There’s finally an interesting topic that conference goers would love but what a crazy session title scaring people away!
Making matters worse, it was also hosted on Tuesday at 4:45pm right before the drinks, and frankly, the session should’ve been first thing in the morning! What made matters rather odd, was there was a panel running simultaneously to this one, hosted by Stripe with a panelist from TodayPay, the world’s first and leading Refunds as a Service fintech company.
The conference organizers really dropped the ball because why host a session about refunds, and the only refunds company CEO (Jeremy Balkin) at the conference is talking on a different panel at the same time as the refunds panel?
MRC organizers, you made a serious faux pas! We weren’t the only ones left scratching our heads. At the dinner hosted by Stripe later that night, many of the merchant guests at the delicious Jean Georges Restaurant were asking the same thing.
As we navigate the murky waters of online shopping & ecommerce, it’s essential for both merchants and consumers to remain vigilant against the scourge of all types of fraud, especially when it comes to refunds. By fostering transparency, accountability, and integrity in the e-commerce customer experience, we can strive towards a future refunds actually go from being a nightmare, to an enjoyable experience.
MRC lift your refunds game for 2025!
Yours truly,
The Instant Refund Expert™
The Refunds Blog 