Another data breach exposes cardholders to fraud[SIZE=-1]Check your monthly credit card statements for fraudulent charges. Heartland Payment Systems, which processes electronic payments for more than 250,000 businesses, says a data breach might have compromised millions of credit and debit card transactions.
Visa and Mastercard alerted Heartland to suspicious activity surrounding processed card transactions, the company said. An investigation uncovered malicious software that compromised data in Heartland?s network. "We understand that this incident may be the result of a widespread global cyber fraud operation, and we are cooperating closely with the United States Secret Service and Department of Justice," said Robert H.B. Baldwin, Jr., Heartland's president and chief financial officer.
Heartland says that no cardholder Social Security numbers, PINs, addresses, or telephone numbers were involved in the breach. The company has set up a Web site to provide information about this incident to consumers.
The notion that your credit or debit card number is in the hands of some cyber scam artist is troubling. But there?s no need to sign up for costly and widely advertised credit monitoring services. Your liability for losses from fraudulent use of your credit card is limited under federal law, and many banks have policies that extend that protection to debit card users.
Still, you need to monitor your accounts for unauthorized charges and take these steps to further protect yourself.
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Subscribe now![/SIZE]
Subscribe to [SIZE=-1]ConsumerReports.org[/SIZE] for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. [SIZE=-1]Update your feed preferences[/SIZE]