Friday, May 13, 2011

Debit card PIN pads tampered with at five local Michaels stores

Five local Michaels stores - four in Charlotte and one in Matthews - have been added to a list of the retailer's locations found to have tampered PIN pads. The tampering could have led customers' payment cards to be compromised.

The arts and crafts retailer first found the tampering last week, and thought that the problem was limited to the Chicago region. Now, it's found 90 pin pads in multiple states that have been tampered with, affecting nearly 10 percent of its stores.

Affected customers have already reported money stolen from their bank accounts, often at California ATMs, and often in the amount of $503, the Chicago Tribune reports

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your article does not say if this would only affect debit cards? Would these PIN PADS be used for Credit Cards as well? Would these be affected if not entering a PIN? (Some cards allow pins to be used for cash and that information may be on the magnetic stripe.)

Ely Portillo said...

Hi, Anon. I believe debit cards are the primary worry here, but it's conceivable anything with a PIN could be compromised. Thanks,
Ely