- (Bloomberg) -- MasterCard International Inc., the second-biggest
credit-card brand, said it found a breach of payment card data that potentially
exposes 40 million cards to fraud.
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- The Purchase, New York-based credit card organization
said in a statement today that it's notifying member financial institutions
of the breach. About 13.9 million of the exposed cards are MasterCard-branded.
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- Schemes to steal personal financial information have
become more frequent and sophisticated, leading U.S. banks to step up efforts
to educate customers and protect them from fraud. Wachovia Corp. warned
clients on June 3 to be wary of scam emails asking for personal information
online. Lenders such as Bank of America Corp. told some customers in May
that ex-workers may have sold account information to collection agencies.
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- MasterCard said the breach occurred at CardSystems Solutions,
Inc., a Tuscon, Arizona-based third-party processor of payment card data.
Companies such as CardSystems process transactions for financial institutions
and merchants.
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- CardSystems has already taken steps to improve the security
of its system, MasterCard said. CardSystems couldn't be reached for comment.
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- MasterCard had first-quarter revenue of $658 million,
a 10 percent compared with the previous year. Net income rose 26 percent
to $74 million.
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