The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the web:
Sick Phish
The U.S. Secret Service is warning the public about various mass email scams taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic. Some scams use social engineering tactics to seek charitable donations to bogus organizations and others use phishing tricks to get consumers to give up personal data and login credentials, the agency said in a press release.
In one type of email phishing scam, fraudsters offer to sell consumers medical supplies that never arrive, while requesting health and other personal information to plant malware on systems.
This month’s surge in corporate teleworking also is multiplying the potential for email fraud schemes, according to the Secret Service.
Rx collab
Mastercard is joining an initiative to speed development of coronavirus treatments, Fortune reports.
Mastercard, along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and British research nonprofit Wellcome, is committing up to $125 million in seed funding for a COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator to bring more antivirals to market and make sure they’re available to vulnerable populations.
A key reason Mastercard is getting involved is the fact that the coronavirus outbreak poses an economic threat to millions of consumers and businesses, said Mike Froman, Mastercard’s vice chairman.
Silver lining?
Tim Hortons is altering its annual “Roll Up the Rim” promotion in light of germ risk from Coronavirus, and shifting it into a 100% digital mode to drive membership in its loyalty program and higher use of the chain’s mobile payments app.
Tim Hortons already had planned to make changes in its 33-year-old promotion this year, adding a digital element to promote its Tims Rewards loyalty program, with prizes available digitally and on paper cups. The company's move will accelerate its shift to digital.
Beginning this week, Tim Hortons is eliminating thousands of existing paper Roll Up the Rim cups and will redistribute over 1 million prizes digitally from March 11 to April 7, 2020, the company said in a press release. “Tim Hortons does not believe it’s the right time for team members in restaurants to collect rolled-up tabs that have been in people’s mouths during this current public health environment,” the release said.
Small world
Western Union is expanding its cross-border payments services for lawyers to small and mid-size law firms.
Its latest product is WU Incoming Payments for Legal, a solution for smaller legal operations that streamlines payments from foreign invoices, according to a press release.
Participating law firms can send an invoice to a foreign vendor in their local currency and receive payment through Western Union Business Solutions, which moves the foreign currency to the law firm’s account where it’s credited in USD.
From the Web
FORTUNE | Wed March 11, 2020
Drivers and delivery people for companies including Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash are banding together to petition for paid time off, amid rising concerns about the coronavirus.
CNN | Tue March 10, 2020
The answer to Square's success, McKelvey said, was that it operated nearly every aspect of its business differently from traditional payments or point-of -sale companies, forcing it to develop what he calls an "innovation stack."
THE SEATTLE TIMES | Tue March 10, 2020
The policy, which the Seattle-based burger chain introduced Thursday, is voluntary: It’s still accepting cash at all seven of its locations.
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