Hannaford shoppers have been left wondering what they should do to protect themselves in the wake of a data breach that potentially compromised more than 4 million credit and debit card accounts. Banking industry experts recommend that customers who shopped with a card at Hannaford since early December should meticulously review the account activity related to that card and report suspicious purchases to their banks. The experts also said consumers shouldn’t rush to close their accounts and open new ones if they haven’t seen fraudulent activity in their accounts. In nearly all cases, the industry executives said, the banks will pick up the loss for the consumers as long as the banks are notified of the problem and it’s clear the loss in question was caused by the data breach. “If you shopped at Hannaford, review your (account) statement to see if there is anything unusual going on in your account,” said Richard Spencer, the chief financial officer at Mutual Bank in Whitman. “From a consumer standpoint, be reassured that the banks are working with Visa and with the merchants to make sure that the process is seamless for the customers.” The Scarborough, Maine-based grocery chain disclosed on Monday that as many as 4.2 million debit and credit cards used at the stores from Dec. 7 to March 10 may have been compromised by hackers. The company also said it has learned of fraudulent activity in at least 1,800 credit and debit accounts. Michael Norton, a spokesman for the company, said the breach could potentially affect all 165 Hannaford stores in New England and New York, as well as a sister chain in Florida that uses the same payment processing system. At Mutual Bank, which doesn’t issue credit cards, executives said the fraudulent activity that they’ve seen involves debit cards used in transactions that require signatures, as opposed to those that require PIN numbers. The bank has spent about $20,000 to reimburse its customers for money that was stolen. Christine Grundy, the bank’s director of marketing, said Visa’s debit card rules require the bank to reimburse customers for losses in signature-based transactions, but not PIN-based transactions. However, Grundy said her bank usually reimburses customers for fraud involving PIN-based transactions as well. The bank is flagging 450 check cards that may have been affected, placing a restriction on the debit card numbers so that they can only be used with an actual card at an ATM. The bank is reissuing new cards to those customers, but bank officials said customers won’t need to open a new account even though they’ll have new cards. Credit card companies are required by law to reimburse customers for fraudulent transactions with the exception of the first $50, and most card issuers waive that amount as well. “In most cases, when fraud is occurring, the bank is going to absorb the loss,” said Kevin Kiley, chief operating officer at the Massachusetts Bankers Association. Eric Bourassa, a consumer advocate at the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, recommends that Hannaford shoppers take a more dramatic approach than what the bankers recommend. He suggests that shoppers close potentially compromised accounts and open new ones to be on the safe side. “Honestly, if it was me, I would want a new card (and) I would want a new account,” he said. Hannaford said that customers’ names and addresses were not leaked with the card numbers. But Bourassa said consumers should consider putting a freeze on access to their credit, even if they haven’t shopped at Hannaford. In this state, a security freeze costs $15 for all of the three main credit agencies and would prevent anyone from opening up credit in that consumer’s name. To regain access, a consumer would need to spend at least $5 to unlock the freeze. “The protection that it affords people far outweighs the hassle of setting it up and taking it off,” Bourassa said. Hannaford shoppers can call the company’s customer information center at 866-591-4580. Read More
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