Suburban NY Supermarket Customers Targeted In Online Data Breach
ARDSLEY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Hundreds of food shoppers are checking their bank and credit card statements after another online security breach -- this one at a popular suburban supermarket.
Last week, as shoppers paid for their groceries at Deciccio's family owned supermarket in Ardsley, a cyberattack was in progress, CBS2's Lou Young reported.
"They were reading the credit card numbers as they were being processed and then stealing them and recreating duplicates across the country," said John DeCiccio, with Deciccio's Market. "(Remotely?) Remotely! (Pretty sophisticated?) Yes."
The attack went undetected until customers began to see mysterious withdrawals from their accounts. It took a while to make the connection that the store was the common denominator, Young reported.
"Two transactions showed up in my checking account," said victim Maurice Hyacinthe.
"My credit card company from American Express called me and said "'Are you in California and have you attempted to use your card?' and I said 'No,'" said victim Paul Keckestad.
Hundreds of victims called their banks and the store where they last used the card. Police have now opened an investigation.
It's a new pattern we've seen before, only on a smaller scale.
"I don't think it's surprising since it's happened to the biggest companies in the world as well. You know, Home Depot got hacked," said Hyacinthe.
The store reached out to customers on Facebook, urging them to check their accounts. Fraudulent charges are being reversed for the victims, Young reported.
Some shoppers, though, are thinking about going old-school more often.
"I don't like worrying about somebody hacking into my account," said Jodi Levy, of White Plains.
"Go back to cash! Cash is king!" said Carol Pessin, of Armonk.
Cash, after all, can't be hacked. The store owners said they've had a crash course in online security and have upgraded all of their systems.
Experts told CBS2 this latest security breach might have been thwarted by the so-called Chip and Pin security system already in use in Europe and Canada.
