Chargebacks arising from payment fraud are surging and merchants are increasingly having troubles in dealing with transaction disputes – that’s where Mastercard and WorldPay step in.

Mastercard and WorldPay are joining efforts to combat the increasing number of payment fraud incidents globally with Mastercard’s Ethoca Alerts.

The two companies estimate that retail chargeback volumes are expected to grow by 42% between 2023-2026, reaching 337 million globally. This type of refund is triggered when a consumer disputes a transaction on their account. The issue becomes more common due to the rising sophistication of payment fraud methods.

Through the fresh partnership, Worldpay will offer access to Mastercard’s Ethoca Alerts to its 1 million merchants worldwide. This early warning system helps prevent a dispute from becoming a chargeback, thus, reducing potential financial losses and fraudulent claims.

Merchants should not change their existing infrastructure or operation processes to leverage Ethoca Alerts. With simple integration, they receive insights to stop the fulfilment of goods and services and avoid fraud.

Mastercard claims that Ethoca Alerts enabled the prevention of $1.6 billion in fraud due to chargebacks between 2022-23.

It is expected that the introduction of a new solution will ?also enable more of the $2.3 trillion total transactions Worldpay processes to be completed successfully thanks to fewer erroneously declined transactions and increased authorization rates for merchants.

“With ecommerce thriving, we’re working to make transactions as safe and as seamless as possible for all parties. This partnership with Worldpay extends our powerful technology to even more merchants around the world, reducing fraud. By working together, we will advance our shared goal of building trust and powering the global digital economy.”

Johan Gerber, Executive Vice President, Cyber and Intelligence at Mastercard

Another positive update for retailers from Mastercard is that the payment network finally agreed to settle an antitrust case lasting almost 20 years initiated by merchants. The agreement is aimed at reducing the interchange fees paid by U.S. sellers. Class settlement ensures no fee increases for the next five years, providing American merchants with clarity and certainty on their payment acceptance terms.