Mastercard SPME §6.3 · Jun 2022 → May 2023

Mastercard Counterfeit Card Fraud Loss Control Standards

breaking

Section 6.3, outlining Mastercard's standards for countering counterfeit card fraud and related issuer/acquirer obligations, was completely removed from the documentation. This section mandated issuers and acquirers to implement specific fraud loss controls and security feature usage.

Sources Mastercard SPME · Jun 2022 · page 59 PDF Mastercard SPME · May 2023 PDF Fraud Monitoring current
Also in §6.x this release breaking §6.3.1 Counterfeit Card Notification substantive §6 Control of instructions substantive §6.2 Mastercard Fraud Loss Control Program Standards substantive §6.2.2 Acquirer Fraud Loss Control Programs
Why these edits? Section 6.3, which mandated issuers and acquirers to implement specific fraud loss controls related to counterfeit card fraud and the use of card security features, was removed. This affects the 'fraud_monitoring' policy as it cites section 3.7 and relates closely to fraud detection and loss controls that are now not explicitly required in 6.3.
Mastercard SPME §6.3
This section was substantively restructured between versions (0% text overlap). Compare the texts directly below.
Before · Jun 2022 · page 59

Mastercard actively assists law enforcement in the pursuit of organized and informal criminal groups engaged in counterfeit fraud. Although Mastercard has Fraud Loss Control Standards 6.2.2.5 Recommended Fraud Detection Tool Implementation Security Rules and Procedures—Merchant Edition • 22 February 2022

achieved substantial success in this area, including numerous convictions of counterfeiters and seizures of their physical plants, organized criminal elements continue to expand, with new groups emerging almost daily. In addition to implementing the fraud loss controls described in section 6.2, Customers must also make a good-faith attempt to limit counterfeit losses. At a minimum, an Issuer is required to incorporate the Card security features described in Chapter 3 on all Cards, and an Acquirer must transmit full magnetic stripe or chip data on all Card-read POS Transactions.

After · May 2023
Halyard Pay · 1 file
program: Fraud Monitoring
- authority: Mastercard SPME §3.7
+ authority: Mastercard SPME 73.7
fraud_to_sales_ratio_threshold: 0.015
min_count_per_month: 100
monitoring_cadence: monthly
escalation_actions:
- escalate_to_human_review
- notify_acquirer
lookback_period_months: 1
remediation_review_interval_days: 30
agent_owner: fraud_ops_agent
+
+ # The removal of section 6.3 from Mastercard SPME removes the specific mandate for fraud loss controls related to counterfeit fraud beyond existing requirements in section 3.7.
+ # This policy retains reference only to the still-applicable section 3.7 for fraud monitoring guidance, as the more detailed counterfeit loss control requirements from section 6.3 are no longer present in the standard.
+ # No policy parameter changes are needed based solely on this removed section, as current fraud monitoring thresholds and procedures appropriately reflect ongoing Mastercard guidance in 3.7.

This change affects YAML rules only — see the side-by-side or raw diff tabs.

--- a/policies/fraud_monitoring/rules.yaml
+++ b/policies/fraud_monitoring/rules.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 program: Fraud Monitoring
-authority: Mastercard SPME §3.7
+authority: Mastercard SPME 73.7
 fraud_to_sales_ratio_threshold: 0.015
 min_count_per_month: 100
 monitoring_cadence: monthly
@@ -9,3 +9,7 @@
 lookback_period_months: 1
 remediation_review_interval_days: 30
 agent_owner: fraud_ops_agent
+
+# The removal of section 6.3 from Mastercard SPME removes the specific mandate for fraud loss controls related to counterfeit fraud beyond existing requirements in section 3.7.
+# This policy retains reference only to the still-applicable section 3.7 for fraud monitoring guidance, as the more detailed counterfeit loss control requirements from section 6.3 are no longer present in the standard.
+# No policy parameter changes are needed based solely on this removed section, as current fraud monitoring thresholds and procedures appropriately reflect ongoing Mastercard guidance in 3.7.