Temp - Fraud Investigator

Job Title: Fraud Investigator 

Contract duration: 3-6 months with potential to be hired post 1^st engagement period

Location: Remote with potential travel of ~25-30% every month (T&E to be reimbursed at actuals per EXL Policy)

Industry: Retail Banking, credit card preferred

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead end-to-end investigations into merchant-related fraud, including application & synthetic identities, shell companies, transaction laundering, and, Card-not-present (CNP) fraud (e-commerce, mobile, digital wallets), ATO (account take-over)
• Control Testing & Mitigation: Evaluate internal card issuance / merchant acquisition and transaction controls to identify gaps, recommend changes in rules, limits, and transaction workflows
• Develop and implement merchant fraud detection strategies, leveraging onboarding data, transaction patterns, and behavioral analytics, merchant collusive chargebacks.
• Collaborate with underwriting, onboarding, compliance, and legal teams to assess merchant risk and take timely action (e.g., holds, terminations, SAR filings).
• Fraud Detection & Risk Analytics: Utilize fraud detection tools (e.g., Falcon, SAS, Actimize, FICO, Brighterion) and internal models to identify suspicious activity
• Monitor high-risk verticals and merchant categories, identifying emerging fraud typologies and recommending mitigation strategies.
• Ensure compliance with card network rules (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) and regulatory requirements (e.g., PCI DSS, AML, PSD2), Coordinate with issuing banks, merchants, processors, and networks (Visa, MasterCard, etc.) on disputes and investigations
• Oversee merchant fraud case management, ensuring thorough documentation, root cause analysis, and reporting to internal and external stakeholders, support chargeback resolution and fraud recovery efforts
• Represent the organization in external forums, including card scheme investigations, law enforcement inquiries, and industry working groups

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Finance, Risk Management, Criminology, or a related field
• Professional certifications such as CFE (preferred) and/or PCI ISA are highly recommended
• 8+ years of experience in fraud investigation in a Payment Operations division with at least 3–5 years in merchant services or acquiring risk within a PSP or acquiring bank
• Deep understanding of merchant onboarding, MCC risk, transaction laundering, and chargeback abuse
• Proficiency in fraud detection and case management tools
• Good analytical skills with experience in SQL, Python, or other data analysis tools, and familiarity with AI based tools preferred.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence across functions

Preferred Attributes:

• Experience with US Domestic acquiring and SMB merchants highly preferred
• Experience working with Big-4 or large scale audit firm with forensic practice will be a big plus
• Familiarity with real-time fraud monitoring systems and machine learning-based detection models
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, regulated fintech environment with evolving fraud threats