Behind the Scenes: Developing the First Payments and Fraud Prevention Certification Program

The payments and fraud prevention industries are unique for many reasons; one of the most distinct is that there’s no standard educational path for entry. That’s not to say these rapidly expanding industries don’t require expertise to excel, quite the opposite. Few industries require a wider breadth of specialization, including technology, finance, cybersecurity, customer service, data science, and more.?

This lack of a direct path poses an intriguing question, however; how can one effectively prove industry expertise to their teammates or potential employers? This isn’t a new question, it’s one these industries have wrestled with for decades.??

“While there are existing certifications that touch on some of what we do, there’s never been one specifically designed around the specialized requirements of eCommerce fraud prevention and payment processing,” says Tracy Kobeda Brown , VP of Programs & Technology for the MRC. “Our members, particularly team managers, have been looking for a way to evaluate candidates and determine their industry expertise in a fair, objective way. That’s why we created the CPFPP Certification.”?

Designing a Certification?

Identifying an industry gap is an excellent first step, but designing, building, and maintaining a certification program is much easier said than done. There were countless questions that needed to be answered between initial conception and the final product, with one of the most important being what should the process look like, and how to design this certification in such a way that it can achieve its ambitious goals???

To get the full picture, it’s best to hear from those that helped create it.?

The first step in developing the Certified Payments and Fraud Prevention Professional (CPFPP) certification was finding subject matter experts (SMEs) that believed in the concept and were willing to provide their valuable time to help create it.?

“I wanted to participate to help create a certification that's been needed but lacking in the industry for a long time,” said Shoshana (Karin) Maraney , Content and Communications Director at Identiq , an identity verification provider. “So many fraud fighters get into the profession by accident and discover that they've found their place - which is great, but then the burden is on them to self-educate, find mentors and try to locate scattered resources to help them level up in knowledge and broad understanding.”?

After pulling together a talented group of SMEs, the next step was constructing the exam questions. This process was led by a psychometrician, or testing expert, who guided the SMEs over the course of several months to develop and perfect the exam questions. Each question went through an extensive approval and refinement process over the course of several months, until all parties were satisfied with the length, thoroughness, and quality of the exam.?

“Writing down questions with the understanding that these questions are aimed to test people's knowledge, in order to improve the level of expertise in the industry is quite humbling,” said Ben Herut , Solution Lead Architect at Justt, a chargeback reduction company. “It helped create a 'bare minimum' standard level of expertise which will then increase the engagement and create a healthy competition that would ultimately contribute to what we know now as average knowledge.”?

It was an extensive process involving a great deal of time and commitment from countless dedicated people. When the Certification program was launched in May 2022, it was an enormous achievement, not just for the industry, who now have a benchmark and shared knowledgebase, but also for the many people involved in creating the certification.?

“Participating in such a process, working together with various experts from various domains in the industry is an amazing experience of collaboration, knowledge sharing, challenging ideas and investing in a common goal,” said Ben Herut. “It also was an opportunity to increase my involvement with the MRC, allowing me to be a part of and make an impact on the wonderful MRC Community.”?

It was a learning process for everyone involved.?

“Taking part in building the certification was an education in itself; I was impressed by how rigorous and thoughtful it was, and how much care was taken to make it challenging, yet achievable and fair,” said Shoshana Maraney.?

Now that industry professionals are taking the exam and becoming Certified Payments and Fraud Prevention Professionals, everyone involved is excited about what it means for the future of the payments and fraud prevention industries.?

Shoshana speaks for all involved, including the MRC team when she said, “I'm happy that the qualification now exists. It's a nice bonus for me that helping create it was a learning experience for me too!”?

Learn more about becoming a Certified Payments and Fraud Prevention Professional, including how this process can benefit you or your team.?

The Future of the?CPFPP Certification?

As the certification continues to evolve, the MRC is recruiting additional volunteer SMEs to help guide the future of the program. These include 2-3 SMEs to help develop a study guide for those interested in getting certified, as well as 7-9 SMEs to work with the test developer on a?statistical review of the exam questions. ?

Anyone interested in contributing a few hours over the next few months to this exciting collaborative project is encouraged to reach out to [email protected]. These efforts will help shape the future of payments and fraud prevention.?