Credit Card Scammers Have Begun Phishing in a Sea of Merchants – Don’t Take the Bait

Phishing scammers have moved on from trying to get individuals’ credit card information to going after mass numbers of credit card information by obtaining it from YOU, the merchant!

MasterCard advised some merchants have received fraudulent “MasterCard Security Alert” e-mails.

What to look for: an e-mail asking you to conduct payment card test transactions, followed by a refund to a different payment card. There are also instructions to send the details of the transactions to an e-mail address not affiliated with MasterCard.

This is a scam! These criminals are hoping to gain YOUR merchant transaction information to make fraudulent purchases and refunds using the stolen card information.

If you receive a phone call, e-mail message, text message, or social media request from anyone claiming to be a MasterCard Security representative DO NOT RESPOND and immediately report the inquiry to MasterCard at this e-mail address: datasecurity@mastercard.com