December 23, 2009
-
News: Alaskans Fall Victim to CC Breach
Police authorities suspect that as many as 1,000 Anchorage, Alaska residents may have been victims of a debit and credit card cybercrime. The investigation is continuing in search of answers for the theft which is believed to have occurred by means of a computer hacker. According to police, the department was received an average of 10 to 20 complaints a day of unauthorized debit and credit card transactions on their accounts. To date, they have confirmed approximately 150 cases of unauthorized transactions amounting anywhere from a few dollars to several thousand dollars. The pieces are still being put together; however, investigators have linked the breached debit and credit card accounts to customers of one particular Anchorage business which they are not at liberty to say at this time.
Anchorage Police Department Detective Glen Klinhart said that they do not want to release all the information they have obtained regarding the debit and credit card theft because they do not want to alert the thief that they are on to him. Klinhart says that the cardholders as well as the business are all victims of the crime. He said sometimes people think because the bank notified them that their credit card information had been stolen and they are protected against liability, they don't realize they are victims.
Jan Jones of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Alaska says that debit and credit card customers in Alaska don't realize how vulnerable they are to becoming victims of theft. Consumers need to check their credit reports, bank statements, and card statements regularly and immediately report any suspicious or unauthorized transactions. Furthermore, most consumers are not aware that they should report the fraud to the police authorities as well to obtain a case number to give to their lender. Victims of fraud should also report it on their credit report. Police say all Alaskans should be monitoring their card statements regularly since the case is still open.