stolen credit card data

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Credit card data stolen from supermarket chain - Yahoo! News

Quote:

BOSTON (Reuters) - A computer hacker stole thousands of credit card numbers after breaching security at two U.S. grocery store chains... Nearly 2,000 cases of fraud have been linked to the breach, but no personal information such as names or addresses was accessed when the hacker broke into the Hannaford Bros. stores in Massachusetts, New England and New York, and Sweetbay customers in Florida, Hannaford said in a statement... A group of banks later asserted in court documents that the number of consumer accounts were affected was closer to 94 million, a charge Massachusetts-based TJX denied.

though not a regular customer, on visits i've used both debit & credit cards at sweetbay in tampa, florida. should i bother to have those card numbers changed?

[tryan]

Just scanned my card use ... charged Hannafords 11 times since Dec 2007 .... YIKES!

Good news is, it's only the card number. No other personal data. I'll be watching the activity on that card VERY closely.

[freebird5825]

if your credit card company offers this, go to your cc company website where you can set up a maximum daily transaction and/or total daily sum to trigger an alarm by email. it doesn't shut down the card, but at least you will have notice of suspicious activity. and can act on it vs being totally in the dark.

i have this set at $300 for individual tx and $300 for total daily sum.
it's great. i triggered it a few times with normal buying and got email notification promptly. the email was waiting for me at home in my inbox within an hour.

the trick is to set it to your spending habits.

if a hacker gets in, well there's not much we can do about that. but you will see purchase activity due to unauthorized usage if your cc info is hijacked. all within a few hours and can shut it down.

[dex]

I check my on line cc accounts regulary.
I only use my atm card to remove cash from an atm.

[Bimmerbill]

I use them all the time, as does my wife. It's the closest supermarket here, but not the cheapest. I have account alerts set up thru USAA and will keep an eye on charges made.

[BunsGettingFirm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum Credit card data stolen from supermarket chain - Yahoo! News though not a regular customer, on visits i've used both debit & credit cards at sweetbay in tampa, florida. should i bother to have those card numbers changed?

I shopped there many times during the time that the data breach happened. I have been watching my card for any suspicious activities. I didn't know that shopping for groceries can be hazardous. Maybe I should have bought more whiskey and porn instead.

[chinaco]

If you shop there... call your credit card company and close the old account and open a new one immediately.

You should register a fraud alert with the Credit Rating companies like Equifax.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum though not a regular customer, on visits i've used both debit & credit cards at sweetbay in tampa, florida. should i bother to have those card numbers changed?

I wouldn't bother to change them myself. I did fraud investigations for years. If an unauthorized charge shows up on your statement (you DO read your statement don't you?) just read the fine print on the back of the statement and write a letter to the CC company. You might want to send it return receipt requested.

If your card issuer feels there is a high level of risk they will send you a new card without you asking.

Legally you're only liable for the first $50 in unauthorized charges but in practice that almost never happens since it costs the bank more than $50 to find another customer. The only time I saw someone charged that $50 there was evidence, but not proof, of collusion between the card holder and the thief.

[KM]

My co-worker's daughter had their checking account emptied as a result of this breach. She uses her debit card at Hannaford frequently and earlier this week found all her money gone. Although I don't know how much it was, the bank did cover her (although I have to think Hannaford will be picking up the tab somehow).

It's my understanding banks in my area have been notified of the accounts that where potentially impacted and they are already starting to watch the accounts or close them. We, personally, only use one credit card at Hannaford, so I called, had it cancelled today, and a new one issued. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KM My co-worker's daughter had their checking account emptied as a result of this breach. She uses her debit card at Hannaford frequently and earlier this week found all her money gone. Although I don't know how much it was, the bank did cover her (although I have to think Hannaford will be picking up the tab somehow).

That's the reason I don't have a debit card and never will. If the account is emptied the person might have a serious cash flow problem until the issue is resolved. Mostly younger people with limited assets are vulnerable to that. With a credit card it's all just paper to the cardholder. Consumer protection issues are a lot better with a credit card vs. debit card.

Hannaford might eat some of the losses, but mostly it's going to be the merchants/vendors who accepted the stolen numbers as payment. There's a lot of fine print involved but essentially anytime a merchant accepts a credit/debit card number without physically seeing the card and having a signature the merchant is taking the risk. That's why many online stores will not ship to anywhere but the billing address.