Some stores not telling customers about credit card breaches

The Dept. of Justice broke up the largest credit card hacking ring from retail stores all over the U.S. Over 40 million credit cards from nine retailers. However, only four-out-of-nine actually informed customers that their information had been compromised.

The other stores say they never told customers because they never confirmed data were stolen from them.

• Story link from Wall Street Journal on-line, posted on Aug. 11, 2008 – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121842142123128889.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Most states mandate that companies tell their customers when their credit-card data is stolen from the stores. The laws are designed to give consumers a chance to protect themselves against fraud or identity theft.

But when federal prosecutors disclosed last week that computer hackers swiped more than 40 million credit-card numbers from nine retailers in the biggest such heist ever, it was the first time that many shoppers had heard about it.

That’s because only four of the chains clearly alerted their customers to breaches.