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Phone Calls Requesting Merchant Statements – SCAM WARNING

Requesting Merchant Statements

Companies or individuals who are calling and requesting merchant statements or other personal data right away are usually not doing so for legitimate business purposes. Unfortunately, our industry is filled with people who try to prey on the trust and good manner of local business owners.

Awareness

Email scams and fraudulent phone calls are at the forefront of the merchant industry fraud. It’s very easy for someone to hide behind a phone line or email and try to con someone into giving up confidential information that can be used to gain leverage, take advantage of, or sometimes even steal from individuals and businesses.

It’s not exactly a new trend, and we know people these days are more informed and generally weary of giving out personal information over the phone to someone they don’t know, but with an increase in fraudulent activity in the industry lately, Capital Bankcard has issued the following statement to highlight awareness for our merchants and clients.

From Capital Bankcard – Fraud Prevention

It has come to our attention that merchants across the industry are receiving email communications from various companies and/or individuals requesting their most recent merchant statement. These are solicitation emails and we advise you not to share your merchant statements to protect you and your privacy.

Some of these solicitations indicate that you have had a prior discussion about the statement, such as “This is a courtesy reminder for you to send your most recent merchant statement.” If you haven’t had previous interaction with these companies and/or individuals, please do not share your statements with them.

There have been some instances of phone calls where the caller attempts to verify account information and requests copies of merchant statements; however, Capital Bankcard is aware of these types of callers and does not provide any confidential account information without multiple verifications.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these scenarios, please contact your local Capital Bankcard agent at (260) 203-9432 or Capital Bankcard’s National Client Services at (877) 788-2836.

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Don Bregin

Don is an industry professional with 30+ years of experience in finance and accounting, risk management, general business management, credit card processing and electronic payments.

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