Merchant Advisory: Guidelines for Credit Card Numbers Displayed on Web Pages.

SEATTLE -- The Merchant Risk Council (MRC), the retail industry's premier association for preventing online fraud and promoting secure e-commerce, is issuing a merchant advisory that merchants should implement the truncation rules designed for offline use to all web pages that contain credit card numbers and/or expiration dates. Specifically no more than the last 5 digits of the credit card number should be displayed and the expiration date should not be displayed at all.

The spirit of the law is intended to protect consumers and their information. Since many consumers often print web pages, the Merchant Risk Council feels it is in the best interest of both consumers and merchants to follow the guidelines as described in FACTA.

The FTC recently published a business alert, explaining the guidelines described in FACTA. The business alert from the FTC can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt007.shtm.

About The Merchant Risk Council

The Merchant Risk Council consists of more than 7,800 members, including merchants, vendors, financial institutions and law enforcement agencies. Its subscribers share the common goal of protecting and promoting the online commerce industry by establishing best practices for cyber-fraud prevention. The MRC was founded in 2001 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

To learn more about the MRC, visit: www.merchantriskcouncil.org.