Security breach widespread
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WESTERN MONTANA — Local banks across Mission Valley are estimated to have lost thousands of dollars in the past two weeks after their customers became victims of credit theft in the biggest data breach to hit the region in several years.
Details on when and how the data were taken remain sparse. The Secret Service, which is investigating the case, did not return calls for comment. Several local bankers speculated the data was taken from a processing company that serves several grocery stores or other merchants. URM Stores, Inc., a Spokane-based grocery distrbutor that serves Harvest Foods, Super 1 Foods, and Family Foods said in a Monday press release that the company was likely the victim of a criminal cyber attack.
“Community Bank first saw the trend and then they kind of called around and asked other banks if we were seeing a trend,” Eagle Bank teller Lisa Skalsky said. “We noticed a few, which isn’t out of the usual to start with, but then over the next couple of days we started to see an increase.”
Banks and their customers noticed charges made in Louisiana, New York and other places far from the Mission Valley. The fraudsters signed for purchases so a pin number for a counterfeit card wasn’t necessary.
The account holders aren’t held responsible for the thefts, but local banks are.
Eagle Bank had to pay for increased security measures after the breach, plus the cost of the unauthorized charges.
“For a larger bank, it could probably be as much as tens of thousands (of dollars),” Skalsky said.
Though banks swallow the cost of theft, they aren’t to blame and have high security measures that make massive data breaches a rarity. Breaches of individual merchants or processors are much more common.
Whenever account information is stolen, new cards have to be issued. In this case, the several banks did not allow purchases without a pin number for several days to help stop the fraudsters. Local banks stepped up security to catch the unauthorized purchases, but individual account holders can help catch fraudulent charges too.
“Monitoring account activity frequently is important,” Valley Bank Chief Operations Officer Candy Faroni said. Suspicious charges should be reported to the bank immediately.
Even if the persons responsible are caught, banks usually never find out who the perpetrators were, when they stole the account information, or if they are brought to justice.
“We never find out,” Skalsky said.
