June 23, 2009
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News: Suncoast Announces CC Breach
A leader Customers of the Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union were recently notified that they are the latest known victims of the Heartland Payment System's massive data breach announced last year that compromised millions of consumers' debit and credit card information. Suncoast discovered late last month that nearly 56,000 members of the credit union were at risk for credit card fraud and identity theft because of the breach. The credit union informed all the members who accounts were compromised that they would be receiving new cards. Customers' personal information was not exposed to the fraud; however, the credit card data was. To date, Suncoast has determined that out of its 450,000 members, less than 1,000 have been affected by fraud. Since Visa has a zero liability fraud policy, members that have reported fraud will not be penalized.
Affected members will not have any lapse in availability of their credit card accounts. Suncoast has assured that the old cards will not be cancelled until the new cards have been received and activated. Suncoast has never experienced the need to reissue this large amount of cards, but cannot say at this time that they may not need to do so again in the future. Breaches as wide spread as the Heartland's one can take several years before all credit card accounts have been filtered through. Therefore, Suncoast reminds its members that they should regularly examine their accounts closely and notify the credit union about any suspicious activity.
In early June, Suncoast had begun notifying members whose credit card information was affected by the breach. However, they did not make a public announcement because they wanted to personally notify their members. Unfortunately, the story was released by Fox News and according to Suncoast, contained inaccurate information. In response, last week the credit union released a statement to clarify the information. Their intentions were to prevent any further harm to their customers and to reassure them that they were fully protected. Suncoast is a not-for-profit and member-owned cooperative based out of Tampa, Florida. Additional information on Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union can be found on their web site at http://suncoastfcu.org/