Aldi Customers Payment Information Breached

Written on October 6, 2010 – 10:36 pm | by Chloe Gatenby

The grocery store Aldi reported that the names, account numbers and secret codes of customers in 11 states were exposed to potential theft when they used payment cards at machines that had been tampered with. The breach has affected stores in Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia.

The company is encouraging customers to carefully review and monitor their debit and payment card statements and their credit reports for unusual activity.

It is believed that the altered payment terminals were illegally placed in some stores between June 1 and August 31. The company does not believe that any employees were involved with the fraud.

Aldi spokeswoman Michelle Williams declined to say how many stores or machines or customers were affected or describe any resulting thefts.

But the Chicago Tribune has reported that more than 200 people who had shopped at an Aldi store in Wheeling, IL, told law enforcement officials there were unauthorized withdrawals of $100 to $900 from their accounts related to the data exposure.

Police in the town of St. Charles, IL, told The Associated Press they have received 32 reports of debit card fraud from people who had shopped at Aldi.

Aldi believes it has removed all the affected machines from stores, and it has adopted new security measures that Williams declined to detail.

Customers who believe their payment cards were affected should immediately contact their bank or payment card company and local law enforcement authorities, Aldi said.

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