Scam impersonates payments provider, SumUp, to steal credentials

A new scam is impersonating, SumUp, a payment solutions and financial tech company with more than 4 million business customers, and offices across Europe and America. MailGuard is currently blocking the email campaign impersonating the global payments platform, that is aiming to steal sensitive credentials. The lure pressures recipients to “verify identity” to avoid service restrictions, then funnels them to a fake SumUp login page to capture usernames and passwords.

The company says, “We give access to financial services to the millions of businesses that are considered too small for most providers. They’re up to 10 times smaller than the smallest businesses that would be targeted by banks and traditional providers. What started out as one card reader has now turned into a range of readers, multiple remote payment solutions such as Invoices, Gift Cards and Payment Links, and so much more.”

What we're seeing

A well-formatted HTML email arrives in inboxes containing a single link to a phishing site, carrying the display name “Suррort Sumuр”. It uses homoglyph characters that look like Latin letters but are not, which is a common trick to bypass filters and visual checks. The subject of the email reads “Compliance Notice: Verify Your SumUp Account Information.”

The email features a prominent “Verify Identity Now” button, as a deadline to create urgency, linking to a phishing page disguised as a Sumup Log in page that aims to capture the user’s credentials.

Click ‘Next’, and a fake branded landing page urges users to “Please wait”, with a spinner designed to reassure victims while the phishing kit loads.

Red flags to watch

• Sender mismatch: a government or unrelated domain sending “SumUp support” messages.
• Strange typography: characters that look right at a glance but are subtly different, for example “Suррort” using Cyrillic p characters.
• Urgency and deadlines: “complete verification by [date]” to avoid interruptions.
• Lookalike domains: links that do not resolve to an official SumUp URL.
• Single-click journeys: one prominent button that bypasses normal account navigation.

Who is at risk

Any business using payment processors or merchant portals is a target. Finance teams, store managers, and anyone with access to merchant dashboards face higher risk, since one compromised account can enable unauthorised payments or refunds, data exposure, and reputational harm.

Recommended actions for organisations

• Alert staff now: Share the screenshots provided in this post, and remind teams to verify sender domains before clicking.
• Use protected sign-in habits: Navigate to SumUp by typing the known URL or using a saved bookmark, not email links.
• Enable strong authentication: Enforce MFA for merchant and finance tools. Treat unexpected MFA prompts as a warning sign.
• Hunt and block: Add observed indicators, for example the lookalike domain in the screenshots, to email and web filtering policies.
• Reset and review if exposed: If credentials were entered, reset passwords immediately, revoke sessions, review account activity, and rotate API keys where applicable.
• Layer defences: MailGuard detects and stops phishing waves like this before they reach inboxes, reducing the chance of a single click turning into a business incident.

Notes for IT and security teams

• Campaign characteristics: single-link HTML lures, homoglyph sender names, and external hosting on non-brand domains.
• Likely evasion: use of compromised infrastructure and fresh domains to avoid reputation-based blocking, with brand-accurate CSS and assets to fool visual checks.
• User-reported symptoms: “page hangs on loading” after login. This often corresponds to credential exfiltration or stage-two prompts hidden behind a stalled UI.

Stay Safe, Know the Signs

MailGuard advises all recipients of these emails to delete them immediately without clicking on any links. Responding or providing personal details can lead to identity theft, data breaches, and financial losses.

Avoid emails that:

• Aren’t addressed to you personally.
• Are unexpected and urge immediate action.
• Contain poor grammar or miss crucial identifying details.
• Direct you to a suspicious URL that isn’t associated with the genuine company.

Many businesses turn to MailGuard after a near miss or incident. Don't wait until it's too late. Reach out to our team for a confidential discussion by emailing expert@mailguard.com.au or calling 1300 30 44 30.

One Email Is All That It Takes   

All that it takes to devastate your business is a cleverly worded email message that can steal sensitive user credentials or disrupt your business operations. If scammers can trick one person in your company into clicking on a malicious link or attachment, they can gain access to your data or inflict damage on your business.     

For a few dollars per staff member per month, you can protect your business with MailGuard's specialist AI-powered, zero-day email security. Special Ops for when speed matters!  Our real-time zero-day, email threat detection amplifies our client’s intelligence, knowledge, security and defence. Talk to a solution consultant at MailGuard today about securing your company's inboxes.  

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