A rash of card fraud reports over the weekend in Beaverton, Oregon may be linked to the breach of some Michaels Stores.
Brent Hunsberger reports:
A number of Portland-area residents reported their debit cards either were compromised or canceled suddenly over the weekend, and Beaverton police said at least one case was related to a data breach earlier this year at Michaels Stores Inc.
Bill Johnson, a customer at First Tech Federal Credit Union, discovered $800 in unauthorized ATM withdrawals on Saturday, while a spokesperson at Advantis Credit Union said it saw a spike in debit card fraud over the weekend. Several U.S. Bank customers reported their debit cards were canceled without notice.
Beaverton Police Department spokeswoman Pam Yazzolino said it referred one case to the U.S. Secret Service, which is investigating the Michaels breach.
Michaels reported last month that Personal Identification Numbers pads at close to 90 stores had been tampered with between Feb. 8 and May 6, exposing payment cards to possible fraud. The tamperings occurred at two stores in Beaverton as well as stores in Tualatin, Roseburg, Springfield and Medford, the company has said.
Some PIN numbers have been used fraudulently since then, company officials said. But in Beaverton, illegal charges using those PINs might be just beginning to show up, Yazzolino said.
Doug Marker, vice president for loss prevention and safety at Michaels, said today via a spokesperson that “it cannot be assumed that all fraud experienced by any Michaels shopper is necessarily connected to Michaels.”
Read more on The Oregonian.
If the Beaverton fraud is Michaels-related, it would be another reminder why people shouldn’t assume that if their information isn’t misused within days, they’re safe, despite any entity’s claims of “We have no evidence of misuse” issued days after breach disclosure.
Related: Past coverage of the Michaels Store breach.