Cost Plus World Market got the first hint of trouble in mid-June when two employees reported unauthorized transactions on their debit card accounts.
By early July, bank card companies and other financial institutions were reporting a spate of fraudulent debit card transactions linked to several of the Oakland-based company's Southern California stores, including three in San Diego.
Cost Plus, a retailer of food, wine and furniture, began alerting customers July 22 that the debit card PIN pads at select stores had been tampered with between February and April. As a result, an unknown number of account numbers and PINs were hijacked, according to the company.
“We have now identified 11 stores,” Cost Plus spokesman Ronald Low said yesterday. “We believe this is an isolated incident involving a very small number of stores over a specific period of time.”
Among the stores involved in the breach were the downtown San Diego Cost Plus on Fourth Avenue, the Oceanside store on Vista Way and the La Jolla store on Villa La Jolla Drive.
Low said that the payment card data read by a PIN pad is limited and that it is unlikely that other customer information, such as names or Social Security numbers, was obtained. There have been no reports of any credit card fraud associated with the incident, he said.
“Cost Plus is working with its bank and with the payment card companies to ensure that affected customers are identified in a timely manner,” Low said. “In the meantime, we strongly recommend that customers who used payment cards for purchases at the identified stores during the specific period of time carefully review their account statements for any fraudulent activity.”
Cost Plus has now changed its point-of-sale procedures and has begun replacing the PIN pad devices throughout all of its 300 stores nationwide, Low said. That process will be completed by the end of this month.
Law said the company is working with law enforcement officials to identify those involved in the crime.
By Penni Crabtree
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