Operation: Payback is being followed by Operation Bank-Troll -- an online effort to spread a rumor through e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and other social media websites that MasterCard has been hacked and credit-card numbers have been leaked.

On Twitter, some messages claiming that MasterCard numbers had been leaked included links to a PasteBin.com, a file sharing website where hundreds of numbers and dates were posted -- numbers MasterCard says are fake.

One image circulating on Twitter described how to take part in Operation Bank-Troll step-by-step in an effort to trick MasterCard users into canceling their credit cards.

MasterCard has also taken to Twitter to deny the rumors, which have been dubbed Operation Bank-Toll on various websites and in images passed around online.

In response to a message from Drew Olanoff, who tweeted:

looks like a huge dump of mastercard data was posted online. check your statements closely kids.

MasterCard wrote:

@thatdrew Rumors of security breach are false. Numbers published fake. Customer information is secure. @MasterCardNews http://bit.ly/hqr8Qe

In statement on the earlier attack that downed mastercard.com, and the rumors of credit card number leaks, the company said:

MasterCard has made significant progress in restoring full service to its corporate website. Our core processing capabilities have not been compromised and cardholder account data has not been placed at risk. While we have seen limited interruption in some web-based services, cardholders can continue to use their cards for secure transactions globally.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Images: (Top) Promotion of Operation Bank-Troll. (Bottom) Screenshot of a tweet from MasterCard denying the Operation Bank-Troll rumors



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