Visa Warns of New Fraud Scheme

Banking institutions and payments processors are on heightened alert after notification from Visa that a criminal group plans to execute a large, fraudulent batch settlement scheme. According to Visa's alert, a copy of which was obtained by Information Security Media Group, the payment card giant has information about criminals who claim to have access to account numbers and the ability to submit a large batch settlement upload to occur over a weekend. (Merchants usually send their credit card transactions by batches at the end of a business day to be settled by the credit card companies and acquiring banks.) Visa does not have any information as to when the fraudulent settlement activity may occur. The criminals claim to have access to a merchant account placed with a bank in Eastern Europe. "Although the source of the information is reliable, the information that Visa has received coming forward so far is limited," the alert states. "Visa suspects that this scheme may be linked to a consortium of online merchants that have been trying to secure processing arrangements after being shut down at several acquirers across many geographies." This alert comes after last year's record-breaking Heartland Payment Systems data breach and other noted incidents, including the Network Solutions breach that involved its merchant client database of more than 4,000 small business accounts. Posted in: Credit Card Fraud