Dear Sage Payments customer, you need to renew your annual agreement

with Sage. Failure to do so will result with your account status set to

-INACTIVE-, only test transactions will be possible. Download your

personal login page from this email and continue.

Sage VT Team 2012.

Please disregard and do NOT follow any links or download any software.

If you followed any of the links or supplied any password or account information please change your Virtual Terminal password immediately and contact Sage Payments for further advice.

As 90 Minds Consulting Group member Mark Kotyla of Giving Tree Consulting in West Hartford CT  smartly points out:

The best approach to these e-mails is to use common sense. While it’s nice to be notified by vendors that such threats exist, the notification is almost always too late. Variations of these scams occur daily, so NEVER take action based upon instructions from e-mail, especially when asked to log in and verify information. No legitimate business will cancel or deactivate a financial account based solely upon e-mail notification. Moreover, customers should never be asked to "download" anything in order to complete a request… that’s a dead giveaway. If in doubt, access your account directly through your browser, using the URL originally provided by the vendor (never through an e-mail link). Relevant notices are usually displayed once you access your account.

Update 1-21-2012: Sage Payments website contains an update about this situation. It appears there were at least two phishing attempts – occurring  on 1/12/2012 and 1/20/12.

© 2012, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.

That’s a question that everyone in the 90Minds Consulting Group is faced with. Our clients ask this question of us and while there’s not one correct answer – here’t the rule of thumb that I follow.

If you are going to call Sage to open a technical support case – and you don’t have third party enhancements – install the latest service update prior to placing the call. (If you do have third party enhancements – including Sage Extended Solutions) – then check with your Sage Business Partner.

MAS90 and MAS200 Service Update Best Practices

If you are experiencing difficulties with an issue that the latest service update fixes (there is a “what’s fixed” text document in every service update and you have no third party solutions – install the latest update. (Same advice goes for contacting your Sage Business Partner if you’re unsure or if you do have third party add-ons including Extended Solutions).

However

If you are not experiencing problems

If everything in MAS90 is running just fine…

Should I install the latest Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200 Service Update

In my opinion – no – not unless you meet one of the criteria noted above.

Important: Different consultants have differing responses to the above question. This is only my personal point of view. Consult with your local competent Sage Business Partner for a personalized response.

My theory of “if it ain’t broke – don’t fix it” was bolstered this morning when this group email landed in my in-box.

It describes a fairly serious bug that appears to have been introduced in Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 service update 10.

Here’s the email:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Mark Kotyla
Date: Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 7:40 AM
Subject: [sageresellers] Bug Alert: 4.3 SU10 GL Trial Balance
To: sageresellers@yahoogroups.com

The Trial Balance, printed with Ending Balances Only, lists the GL Period End date on the heading instead of the date selected during report printing. GL account balances appear accurate though. Use the Trial Balance with Beginning Bal/Activity/Ending Bal option instead (it correctly displays the selected period).

Best Regards,

Mark Kotyla
Giving Tree Consulting, LLC

(860) 313-0720

Kudos to Mark Kotyla for spotting this new bug in the latest Sage service update.

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.