Back in early May it was discovered that Michaels, a major national arts and crafts retailer, had about 90 of their debit terminals tampered with nationwide. It seems that skimming devices were put on the machines allow thieves to steal names, account numbers, and most importantly pin numbers. Authorities were aware of the problem but it seems that banks did not take the issue seriously enough, because this Memorial Day Weekend cardholders across Las Vegas were outraged and depressed to find that their accounts had been sucked dry by criminals.
"Doing it on a three day weekend with Memorial Day was very clever," says Mike Day, whose account was hit for $500. "You actually had to dig to find a number that would be answered by the bank so that you could shut down the card."
It's unknown how many Las Vegans were lost money during the mass withdrawals but it's easily in the thousands. Nevada Federal Credit Union alone had 1400 customer accounts compromised, and Action News reports that nearly every bank in the valley was affected. The bank has assured that customers will get their money back but they warned that it could take up to 10 days to get everything sorted out.
Michaels released a statement saying they 'sincerely regret any inconvenience this may cause' and that they have replaced all of their debit terminals nationwide with new models that are more tamper-resistant.
As always, stay tuned for more credit card news and updates.
Silicon Valley Bank, the premier bank for companies in the technology, life science, venture capital, and premium wine industries, has announced that it will be making the first chip-enabled credit cards for businesses in the US. The cards, which use an embedded microchip to store a cardholder’s personal information more securely, have been used in Europe and Asia for years. It was only a matter of time before some introduced the cards in to the US business market and it just makes sense that Silicone Valley Bank would be the one to do it.
American Express Middle East and North Africa have announced that they will be extending their long-term partnership with British Airways in order to offer cardholders exclusive discounts on air fare. Until the end of the year, cardholders will be able to receive a 10% online discount on flights from the GCC countries to the UK, US, Canada and select European destinations, and those traveling British Airways World Traveller, economy class cabin World Traveller Plus, premium economy, and Club World business class from, Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait, Muscat, Riyadh or Jeddah will be eligible for a 10% discount on the fare, when they book their tickets online via www.americanexpress.com.bh.
A new report released by Carnegie Mellon Cylab found that children have increasingly become the target of identity theft. According to their findings, children are 51X more likely to become the victims of identity theft than the average adult. Children almost always have unblemished credit histories and because they do not need to check their credit, most people don’t even discover that a child’s identity has been stolen until they grow up and try to take out a line of credit.
