A system and method for detecting a test event involving a financial transaction device at a merchant having a merchant profile is disclosed. The method includes receiving data associated with a transaction involving a financial transaction device; calculating a score using at least the transaction data; comparing the score to a threshold value; and attaching a merchant probe flag to the merchant profile if the score exceeds the threshold value. The merchant probe flag indicates a likelihood that a test event has occurred at the merchant based on the score. If a test event has occurred, then financial transaction devices involved in the test event can have their profiles updated to reflect that they have been probed. If a financial transaction device that has been probed is used in a subsequent transaction, then a specialized fraud scoring model can be used to provide an improved fraud risk score.