On February 29, 2024, Merchants Benefit Administration (“MBA”) discovered suspicious activity related to an employee email account. Upon discovery, MBA took immediate steps to secure the affected account and engaged a third-party team of forensic specialists to investigate the incident. The investigation determined that three employee email accounts were subject to unauthorized access between January 16, 2024, and February 29, 2024. On April 12, 2024, following a thorough review, MBA confirmed that a limited amount of personal information may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party in connection with this incident.
The types of information contained within the affected data may have included: names, Social Security numbers, financial account information, and/or credit card or debit card information. Importantly, the potentially impacted information may vary for each individual and may include all or just one of the above-listed types of information.
At this time, there is no evidence indicating any information was subject to actual or attempted fraudulent misuse as a result of this incident. In an abundance of caution, MBA performed a thorough review of the affected information to identify and subsequently notify all potentially affected individuals. As an added precaution, MBA will be making credit monitoring services available to potentially affected individuals.
In response to this incident, MBA has implemented additional security measures within its email environment and is reviewing its current policies and procedures related to data security. Although MBA has no evidence of actual or attempted fraudulent misuse of information as a result of this incident, members are nonetheless encouraged to monitor their account statements and explanation of benefits forms for suspicious activity and to detect errors. Members may also wish to contact the three major credit agencies to place a fraud alert or credit freeze on their credit report – the credit agencies’ contact information is: Equifax (800-525-6285); TransUnion (800-680-7289); and Experian (888-397-3742).
MBA has established a dedicated call center to answer questions about the incident and to address related concerns. The number for the call center is (800-405-6108), Monday through Friday from 8:00 am – 8:00 pm EST (excluding major U.S. holidays). You can also write to us at 18700 N. Hayden Road, Suite 390, Scottsdale, AZ 85255.