To All Merchants,
We received the below fraud notification from our First Data today. Please read carefully.
If any merchant receives one of these fax notices, we would request a copy be provided to us so we can forward to First Data. They will record the information and communicate with the proper parties.
Subject: Merchant Fraud Alert
Importance: High
Issue Type: Reported Fraud Attempts at Merchant Locations
Issue Overview: Reported Fraud Attempts at Merchant Locations
In the last week, we have received several reports of attempted (or actual) fraud at merchant locations. The modus operandi of the fraud attempt is that a fax is delivered to a merchant location instructing the clerk/manager to run a “refund” on a card due to a consumer refund not being processed. The fax has the appearance of coming from the corporate office and for all intents looks legitimate. In some cases we have seen, the faxes include a description of the goods originally purchases (then returned), are apparently signed by a Sr. Executive of the company and are on what appears to be company letterhead; all of which adds an element of authenticity to the fax. Additionally, the stores are instructed to fax a copy of the refund receipt to a specific fax number.
According to the Corporate Offices of the impacted merchants, this faxes are not legitimate.
User Impact:
At this time, we know of four attempts and at least two of them appear such that the merchant did in fact follow the instructions of the fax and processed a refund on the card. The issue seems to be, based on the information we have now, targeted to mid-market Supermarkets and does not seem to be isolated exclusively to a single FDC platform. Given the lack of information aside from the four known issues, we are unable to determine at this time how wide spread this issue might be, or if it is singularly targeted to Supermarket merchants.
Resolution / Next Steps:
FDC is in contact with both Visa/MC regarding this issue and has escalated our concerns within their fraud areas.
Additionally, we are attempting to contact the issuer(s) of the known cards for assistance in this matter.
We are taking this matter very seriously, however we have limited to no ability to proactively mitigate the processing of these refunds at merchant locations.
As such, it is imperative that you communicate to your merchants that we have seen this occur recently and for them to guard themselves against fraudulent activity. If they have any questions regarding the legitimacy of a “refund request” like described above, they should contact their corporate office for guidance and clarification.
—
Bill Hoidas
Consultant Manager Larger B2B/MOTO/Internet Accounts
Product Development Manager
Matrix Payment Systems
(847) 381-3482 office
(847) 381-4289 fax
http://paymentconsulting.net
http://chicago.citysearch.com/review/44659273
http://paymentconsulting.net/adv_funding.html
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