Shane Benjamin reports:
The Durango Police Department has requested the FBI’s help to investigate widespread credit card fraud that targeted numerous people registered for this year’s Iron Horse Bicycle Classic.
Meanwhile, race officials worked Friday to identify the source of the security breach, said Gaige Sippy, director of the event.
“We are still trying to understand where all of this took place,” he said. “As of right now, there is no clear path.”
Dozens of credit cards have been used for fraudulent charges, all with a common thread of also having been used to register for Iron Horse events, Sippy said.
[…]
Organizers are unaware of any security breaches involving the Iron Horse website, which does not store credit card information, Sippy said. The Iron Horse uses third-party companies, including Durango-based Mercury and Plug and Play, to handle credit card processing, he said.
Read more on Durango Herald.
Update: the organizers of the event have posted the following notice on their home page:
The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic was made aware of a possible credit card information breach related to the IHBC late Sunday Feb 10th and again Monday Feb 11 by two individuals who were local to Durango, Colorado.. The IHBC immediately made contact with our host server, and Web Technician. No immediate issues were identified, we then contacted our Credit Card Processors (Mercury Payment Systems and Plug and Pay). On Wednesday Feb 13 we received additional concerns regarding the breach ( we had 2 Monday, none Tues, 15 Weds including several IHBC Staff members cards being impacted). We have been completely engaged with all pertinent entities including Law Enforcement. As of 1pm MT Feb 14, we have not identified what or where the breach may have originated or existed.
We have had several registrants notify us today (Feb 14) of fraudulent charges to their respective cards over the past few weeks.
Additional outside resources are being utilized to try to help identify the source including banking institutions When we have pertinent and conclusive information we will convey that message to our registrants.
We recommend everyone contact their Credit Card provider for the card used for Iron Horse Bicycle Classic registration and alert them of a potential issue. Of those we have spoken with, charges have shown up as various entities, including USPS.com, Gamestop, and Lowes to name a few. Once again all efforts are being made to identify what may have caused this to happen and get it resolved.
As soon as we can verify the security of this site it will be reinstated We apologize for the inconvenience.