Reason code · Mastercard
Mastercard 4849: questionable merchant activity
4849 isn’t a normal customer complaint. Banks can only use it when Mastercard has named the merchant in its Questionable Merchant Audit Program or confirmed a coercion claim in writing. If you see one, your processor relationship needs attention right away.
What 4849 means
4849, Questionable Merchant Activity, is different from every other code on this list. It isn’t triggered by one unhappy customer. A bank can only use it in two situations:
- Questionable Merchant Audit Program (QMAP). Mastercard has published an announcement listing the merchant’s name, location and acquirer.
- Coercion. Mastercard has confirmed in writing that the merchant pressured cardholders into transactions.
The transaction also has to be a fraud the bank properly reported to Mastercard. If Mastercard never substantiated a coercion claim, or the bank never got Mastercard’s written notice, the bank can’t use 4849.
What the customer told their bank
Usually that the charge was fraud. The difference is what happens next: because Mastercard has already flagged the merchant, the bank has a route to send that fraud loss back.
Time limit
- Audit program: within 120 calendar days of the Mastercard announcement that first listed the merchant location, or within 120 days of the transaction.
- Coercion: within 30 calendar days of the date in Mastercard’s written notice.
Your own response date is the one your processor gives you, and it’s shorter.
What proof matters
Whether the merchant location and dates really fall inside the Mastercard announcement, and whether the bank reported the fraud properly and on time. That evidence lives mostly with your acquirer, the bank that processes your cards.
Winning once may not end it
Mastercard’s Guide lets a bank file a QMAP chargeback even after an earlier chargeback on the same sale, under a different reason, failed. So a dispute you already won can come back as a 4849. Keep the records from the first round.
The common mistake
Treating it like an ordinary dispute and answering only on the facts of one sale. A 4849 means Mastercard has your business on its radar. Call your processor the day it arrives and find out what was announced, for which locations and dates.
Dispute Daddy builds this for you
For the everyday disputes, Dispute Daddy builds the response from your notice and records and keeps the deadline in view. A 4849 starts with a call to your processor. See pricing.
