Businessman cautions Island merchants to beware

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Business owner Robert Skydell of Chilmark cautions other Island business owners to be aware of some fast-talking credit card processors who recently made an attempt to switch his account.

Mr. Skydell said he received a voicemail message about updating his credit card processor. When he responded to the message the representative asked for the his terminal model number and said it was no longer seen as secure and needed to be updated. Initially, Mr. Skydell thought he was speaking to his company but soon became suspicious.

The caller said it was no problem to swap out his existing terminal for the “approved” model for free. “He asked for my last payment statement so they could program the new terminal, again at no charge to me, along with a canceled check and my signature on some forms which he would send me by email,” Mr. Skydell said.

“It wasn’t until I opened his email that I began to be suspicious since my current processor, Heartland Payment Systems, didn’t appear anywhere. At the very least it is a clever way to steal an account from another business,” Mr. Skydell said.