Stop & Shop reports credit data was stolen

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Frankston <Bob19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
Date: February 19, 2007 11:32:38 AM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Stop & Shop reports credit data was stolen

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/02/19/ 
stop__shop_reports_credit_data_was_stolen/



By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | February 19, 2007



SEEKONK -- With help from US Secret Service agents, Stop & Shop  
Supermarket Cos. executives scrambled yesterday to determine how many  
consumers may have had their credit and debit card data stolen by  
high-tech thieves who apparently broke into checkout-line card  
readers and planted the equivalent of bugs to steal information.



Stop & Shop said customer information, including personal  
identification codes for cards, was confirmed stolen from  
supermarkets inCoventry and Cranston, R.I. The company said it had  
found evidence that card readers were tampered with in a similar way  
at four other stores in Seekonk and in Bristol, Providence, and  
Warwick, R.I. But the supermarket company said it had no reports of  
illegal transactions on cards that had been used at those stores.



After being notified by a bank last week that its Coventry and  
Cranston stores appeared to be the common link to a number of stolen  
card numbers, Quincy-based Stop & Shop has bolted down card readers  
at all 385 of its supermarkets in New England, New York, and New  
Jersey, company spokesman Robert Keane said yesterday.



"They would not now be able to tamper with the units the way they did  
before," Keane said. He declined to reveal details of how the scam  
worked, other than to say it involved card readers being removed,  
tampered with, and reinstalled. "Our investigation has not uncovered  
any involvement or suspected involvement of any Stop & Shop personnel  
in the tampering," Keane said.



.  . . . . . .



Inside the Seekonk Stop & Shop, store employees pointed out newly  
installed bolts on the mounts for the pin pads, intended to thwart  
anyone from sliding the card readers off the mount to get at the  
underside of the device or the wires that connect it to the cash  
register.



But at least one shopper was blasé. Al Mendes of Seekonk, who had  
just finished shopping yesterday afternoon and charged his purchases  
on his credit card, said he would not worry if his number got stolen.



"The credit card company eats it," Mendes said. "Not me."





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