Working together is success

Leon relocated from London to Amsterdam to start his journey within the Group building up the fraud payments department for Europe. He considers himself and his team to be the detectives of E-com. After 4 years in Richemont, he believes that anything is possible if you have a great team!

I started my journey…

I was working in the UK for a department store and I had just finished my fraud certification. I was thinking about my next challenges and steps. I do believe in fate and the next day, I received a call regarding a position at Richemont in Amsterdam. This was my sign! I flew to Amsterdam for an interview and I remember that it was a beautiful, sunny day. I loved the vibe of the city and felt that it is definitely me. When I had my interview, I felt aligned with my Manager’s vision on how ecommerce and the department should be run. It was a perfect match. Once I received the offer, it was a no brainer. I packed my bags and moved to Amsterdam.

I am the Fraud & Payments Manager for Europe. My team manages the fraud for nine different Maisons. Every single order that is placed online goes through a risk-scoring algorithm. We look at the details of the clients order: billing, delivery, IP address, credit card, etc.. If we do not find any discrepancies, the order will be accepted and processed for delivery. We are essentially detectives and we need to be the best “stalkers” in the world.

My impact…

When I arrived at Richemont, the fraud rate was on the high side. We didn’t have the right tools in place to do our job effectively. I had to rebuild the department from scratch. I recruited someone that was a specialist in data. I introduced tools to help us do our job more effectively and efficiently. This had an immediate impact on reducing the amount of fraud. I also implemented new KPIs to show the business how we were adding value. At the end of FY20, my team had the lowest rates since the launch of the ecom. We have saved the business a lot of money and we are accepting more orders. We are also expanding our knowledge to the boutiques. We have visited three different boutiques to share knowledge around fraud and best practices.

I have learned…

If you work hard, believe in your vision, and you have a supportive manager and team, the results will follow. On a side note, I have also learned to interact with different cultures and understand people’s communication styles. We are very different and everyone is unique – this is a great thing!

I am always impressed by my team…

By their commitment, dedication, and flexibility. During the lockdown, we received a crazy amount of orders. Unfortunately, the fraudsters were also at home. My team came forward and said let’s get through this together. They have never missed any SLAs. They never complain and they always get the job done. They constantly exceed expectations. If you have a great team, you can achieve anything.

My favorite memory…

I had an idea that we should have a fraud convention with the fraud payment teams in APAC and USA. All of the Fraud Managers met in Amsterdam. We discussed the different challenges that we face and how we can support each other going forward. It went really well. Following the event, we created a newsletter and now we connect every week.

My wise words…

Never give up and never be too scared to learn! We can all make mistakes and we will make mistakes. We have to acknowledge these mistakes to improve.