March 19, 2008

Data Breach Exposes 4.2 Million Accounts
Hannaford Brothers, a Scarborough, Maine-based supermarket chain, said that a data breach has exposed more than 4.2 million customer credit and debit card numbers to scammers, and 1,800 fraud cases have been reported so far. "The stolen data was limited to credit and debit card numbers and expiration dates, and was illegally accessed from our computer systems during transmission of card authorization," Hannaford President and CEO Ronald Hodge said in a statement.

The breach, which began Dec. 7 and continued until March 10, could affect anyone using a credit or debit card during that period at the chain's 165 New England and New York stores or 106 Sweetbay outlets in Florida. In response to the data breach, AmBA is providing its bankers with talking points that they can use to educate customers, the media and their communities about what banks do to prevent data breaches and protect personal information. Read Hodge's statement. Read AmBA's talking points on data security.  Read ABA's talking points on customer information privacy.  For more information, contact AmBA's Don Rhodes. 

February 19, 2008

Identity Theft Remains Top Fraud Complaint Category
Identity theft in 2007 topped the Federal Trade Commission's list of consumer fraud complaints for the seventh straight year, according to an agency report. Of the 813,899 total complaints received in 2007, 258,427, or 32 percent, involved identity theft, the report said. The most common form of identity theft was credit card fraud (23 percent), followed by utilities fraud (18 percent), employment fraud (14 percent) and bank fraud (13 percent). Read more.  Read the report.