Head of Anti-Fraud

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Cyprus.

📋 Description

• Oversee Mercuryo's fraud prevention operations and report directly to the Head of AML Operations.

• Take ownership of fraud risks associated with the on/off-ramp widget, wallet, swaps, and card acquiring pay-ins and pay-outs.

• Lead intricate, large-scale fraud investigations that involve linked-account networks, card testing, mule activities, account takeovers, scams, and collusion with merchants or partners.

• Establish investigation standards, including linked case histories, closure deadlines, root-cause analyses, and evidence that is ready for audits.

• Modify rules, restrict or terminate merchants and partners, and escalate suspicions to Transaction Monitoring and the MLRO.

• Manage the anti-fraud rule set, covering design, impact testing, approvals, rule registration, and effectiveness evaluations.

• Identify control weaknesses and redesign controls, procedures, tools, and fraud risk assessments accordingly.

• Create and manage AML alert and block rules on the anti-fraud platform, ensuring that fraud and AML rules are separately registered and assigned.

• Ensure compliance with Visa and Mastercard fraud and dispute thresholds for acquirers and MIDs.

• Lead responses to notices from Visa and Mastercard, as well as programme identifications, within the stipulated deadlines.

• Act as the anti-fraud lead with acquiring partners, responding to RFIs, agreeing on remediation plans, and completing due-diligence questionnaires.

• Manage chargebacks and disputes, including representment, pre-arbitration, deadlines, win rates, tools, and pre-dispute alerts.

• Detect and prevent unauthorized use of Mercuryo widgets or payment links by partners and merchants through resellers, aggregators, iframes, and redirects.

• Select and manage providers for merchant-monitoring and transaction-laundering detection.

• Define processes for alert triage, actions, and evidence collection.

• Collaborate with KYB, Integrations, Legal, and Acquiring on blocking, takedowns, contractual remedies, offboarding, and reporting.

• Lead and develop a multinational team of Anti-Fraud specialists, analysts, chargeback, and fraud operations personnel.

• Report on fraud losses, chargeback and fraud ratios, scheme exposure, incidents, and control statuses to senior management and the Board.

• Maintain the incident register and resolve audit, QA, and compliance-monitoring findings with appropriate evidence.

• Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to ensure fraud controls are in place prior to the launch of new products, markets, and merchants.

⛳️ Requirements

• Minimum of 8 years of experience in fraud prevention within payments, card acquiring, a PSP or EMI, or the crypto sector.

• At least 3 years of experience leading a fraud team or function, ideally across multiple countries.

• Proven track record in leading large-scale fraud investigations from detection to resolution, including card-testing attacks, mule networks, account takeover rings, or merchant collusion.

• Experience producing evidence for acquirers, card schemes, or law enforcement authorities.

• Demonstrated ability to redesign fraud controls and procedures following audits, scheme notices, or major incidents, and show impacts on losses and ratios.

• Direct experience managing acquirer RFIs, remediation plans, and scheme programme cases.

• In-depth knowledge of Visa and Mastercard programmes, including VAMP, VIRP, TC40, Compelling Evidence 3.0, Order Insight, RDR, ECP, EFM, GMAP, BRAM, GRIP, Scam Merchant Monitoring Program, Merchant Monitoring Program, SAFE, MATCH, and Ethoca alerts.

• Understanding of how Visa and Mastercard rules apply to crypto merchant-of-record payments (MCC 6051), including transaction-laundering exposure.

• Familiarity with 3-D Secure and Strong Customer Authentication, including exemptions and liability shifts.

• Experience managing a rules-based fraud engine, including rules, lists, velocity limits, device fingerprinting, BIN and geo controls, with back-testing or shadow mode prior to release.

• Proficiency in SQL.

• Experience creating dashboards in Metabase or similar analytical tools.

• Ability to analyze large transaction datasets independently.

• Experience in designing detection methods for transaction laundering and unauthorized website usage.

• Knowledge of conducting test purchases through multi-step checkouts, redirect and referrer analysis, and evaluating monitoring-provider detection rates and false positives.

• Experience performing a fraud risk assessment that covers both external and internal fraud, utilizing COSO or ACFE guidelines.

• Capability to draft clear procedures that withstand internal audits and regulatory reviews while maintaining evidence that controls function as described.

• Understanding of the intersections between fraud and AML, including mule networks, SAR escalation, and sanctions screening.

• Experience establishing AML controls on a fraud platform.

• Ability to present data on losses and scheme exposure to gain priority from engineering teams.

• Fluent in written and spoken English.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive salary aligned with market rates and performance-based incentives.

• 22 days of annual leave plus an additional 6 company holidays, in addition to bank holidays.

• Comprehensive health insurance plans.

• Support for maternity and paternity leave.

• Extensive benefits program.

• Flexible work schedule and options for remote work.

• Modern office environments and co-working spaces across 6 countries.

• Provision of working equipment.

• Opportunities for professional development and training.

• Chance to influence the initiatives you are involved in.

• Diverse and friendly team culture.

• Open-minded environment that welcomes new ideas.