{"id":3745652,"date":"2026-05-19T13:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/?p=3745652"},"modified":"2026-05-19T13:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:22:07","slug":"mastercard-introduces-strategy-ferret-out-scam-merchants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/mastercard\/2026\/mastercard-introduces-strategy-ferret-out-scam-merchants\/","title":{"rendered":"Mastercard Intros Strategy to Ferret Out Scam Merchants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mastercard.com\/us\/en.html\">Mastercard<\/a> wants to help banks and payment companies separate legitimate merchants and scammers.<\/p><div\r\n\tid=\"article-paywall-overlay\"\r\n\tclass=\"d-none\"\r\n>\r\n\t<div id=\"article-paywall-content\" class=\"my-4\">\r\n\t\t\n<div class=\"wpcf7 no-js\" id=\"wpcf7-f2699550-o1\" lang=\"en-US\" dir=\"ltr\" data-wpcf7-id=\"2699550\">\n<div class=\"screen-reader-response\"><p role=\"status\" aria-live=\"polite\" 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href=\"https:\/\/pymnts-com-develop.go-vip.net\/terms-conditions\/\">Terms and Conditions<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p><input id='hiddenPath' type='hidden' name='path' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='userDeviceId' id='userDeviceId' \/><input type='hidden' name='pageTitle' id='pageTitle' \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<div id='formButtonRow' class='container mt-1 px-0'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p><input class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-submit has-spinner btn btn-dark text-uppercase py-2 px-5 small\" id=\"theSubmitButton\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"post_id\" value=\"3745652\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"source\" value=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/mastercard\/2026\/mastercard-introduces-strategy-ferret-out-scam-merchants\/\" \/><p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"_wpcf7_ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"_wpcf7_ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_1\" name=\"_wpcf7_ak_js\" value=\"250\"\/><script>document.getElementById( \"ak_js_1\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );<\/script><\/p><div class=\"wpcf7-response-output\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"article-paywall-hidden-content\">\r\n\t\n<p>That\u2019s the goal of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mastercard.com\/global\/en\/business\/cybersecurity-fraud-prevention\/risk-decisioning\/minimize-merchant-risk.html#accordion-eade1ecf95-item-d6567d8d76\">Merchant Trust Services<\/a>, a new strategy that uses Mastercard\u2019s intelligence, cyber and identity capabilities, and analytics to distinguish real merchants from risky ones, both on and offline, according to a Tuesday (May 19) Mastercard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mastercard.com\/us\/en\/news-and-trends\/stories\/2026\/merchant-trust-services.html?et_cid=228038&amp;et_subid=24100732&amp;et_mid=6331618\">trend story<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery bad experience online makes shoppers second-guess legitimate businesses, and that makes it harder for real merchants to win and keep customers,\u201d Mastercard Chief Franchise Officer Simon Collins said in the story. \u201cWhen confidence cracks, businesses pay for it in more declines, more disputes and more abandoned carts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Merchant Trust Services is being rolled out ahead of Mastercard\u2019s cybersecurity conference, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mastercard.com\/globalrisk\/en\/home.html\">RiskX<\/a>, in Singapore, the story said. It helps <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/news\/payments-innovation\/2025\/acquirers-turn-to-tokens-to-tackle-fraud-streamline-payments\/\">acquirers<\/a> and payment service providers uncover scammers during the merchant onboarding process, preventing them from launching their businesses, whether in the physical or virtual worlds.<\/p>\n<p>While these merchants will often trick customers with low-grade counterfeits of real items, or take their money without shipping anything at all, the dangers don\u2019t stop there, according to the story. Some of these storefronts are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/cybersecurity\/2026\/what-the-years-biggest-phishing-scams-reveal-about-enterprise-blind-spots\/\">phishing operations<\/a>, with scammers stealing card information to make fraudulent purchases or reselling the card details on the dark web.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fallout from scam merchants also impacts issuers, the cardholders\u2019 banks, which carry the burden of consumer complaints, the dispute resolution process and the cost of replacing compromised cards,\u201d the story said.<\/p><div id=\"pymnt-2768332067\" class=\"pymnt-content pymnt-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-top: 50px;\"><p style=\"text-align:center\">Advertisement: Scroll to Continue<\/p><script async type=\"text\/javascript\" id=\"dianomi_context_script\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dianomi.com\/js\/contextfeed.js\"><\/script> \r\n<div class=\"dianomi_context\" data-dianomi-context-id=\"4329\"><\/div><\/div>\n<p>With that in mind, Mastercard is also introducing its Merchant Scam &amp; Risk Indicator (MSRI), which offers issuers \u201cmerchant risk signals during authorization\u201d to enable fraud mitigation, per the story.<\/p>\n<p>In a pilot with an issuer, MSRI uncovered approximately 80% of the issuer-identified risky merchants, with many flagged as early as 90 days before the issuer\u2019s initial escalation, the story said. MSRI will launch first in Europe and the United States, with worldwide expansion planned within the year.<\/p>\n<p>Mastercard\u2019s efforts come amid a surge in consumer fraud cases. According to data from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/\">Federal Trade Commission<\/a>, consumers filed 3 million reports of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/fraud-prevention\/2026\/consumer-fraud-losses-quintupled-since-2020-ftc-says\/\">fraud<\/a> last year, totaling $15.9 billion in losses. That was up from 2.6 million fraud reports and $12 billion in losses in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/claire-o-donnell-602649b\">Claire O\u2019Donnell<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/\">Amazon<\/a>\u2019s vice president of selling partner trust and store integrity, discussed with PYMNTS in April the company\u2019s efforts to keep fraudulent merchants away from its marketplace, as outlined in its first \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/amazon\/2026\/amazon-recasts-marketplace-fraud-as-a-broader-trust-problem\/\">Trustworthy Shopping Experience<\/a>\u201d report.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA key cornerstone \u2026 is how do we get more proactive,\u201d so Amazon can spot issues with sellers or products ahead of time and prevent them from reaching shoppers, she said.<\/p>\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>\r\n\twindow.pymntsAllowedArticleCount = 1;\r\n\twindow.pymntsPostID = 3745652;\r\n<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mastercard wants to help banks and payment companies separate legitimate merchants and scammers. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content \u2014 no additional logins required. yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today. By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3746085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","pymnts_footnotes":""},"categories":[4018],"tags":[4174,4214,9206,133069,5094,3717,5299],"class_list":["post-3745652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mastercard","tag-fraud","tag-mastercard","tag-news","tag-pymnts-news","tag-scams","tag-security","tag-whats-hot"],"acf":{"suggested_titles":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mastercard Intros Strategy to Ferret Out Scam Merchants<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mastercard\u2019s Merchant Trust Services is a new strategy that distinguishes real merchants from risky ones, both on and offline.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/mastercard\/2026\/mastercard-introduces-strategy-ferret-out-scam-merchants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mastercard Intros Strategy to Ferret Out Scam Merchants | PYMNTS.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mastercard wants to help banks and payment companies separate legitimate merchants and scammers. 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