About two weeks ago I got a letter from my bank telling me that my debit card was going to be replaced due to the possibility of a security breach. I checked my account and didn't see any unauthorized charges. This was good, especially since I had already been through something similar with another account a year earlier.
The letter said that I could continue to use my card for almost a week and that a new one would be mailed out later that day. I don't know why I was allowed to continue to use the card if the risk was great enough to need to replace it. At least it gave me time to withdraw some cash so I could make it through the weekend since my new card didn't arrive until Monday - a week and a half after they said the card would be mailed out.
CNET has an article about the debit card fraud. What made this case different was that PINs were stolen along with the card data. This let the crooks use cards they made to get cash from ATMs.
Why would a business need to retain PINs? I wouldn't be surprised if it had been someone's idea to keep this information in order to protect the company/companies in case of charges of fraud. Whatever the reason, it was a short-sighted one that led to more problems than it could have solved.
This has made me consider cutting down on the use of my debit card and just withdrawing the cash that I think I'll need for the week. It would lessen my risk and might just help me stay within a budget. (Assuming I actually sat down and came up with a budget.)
Posted by marybeth at March 15, 2006 09:31 AM News