Williston credit card losses now at $120,000

The financial loss from the theft of credit card information from a Williston market and deli now appears to exceed $120,000, Williston Police said Friday.

That’s up from an estimate of $100,000 a day earlier.

Complaints are still incoming about the breach of the credit card system at Natural Provisions on Harvest Lane earlier this year, police said.

Detective Sgt. Bart Chamberlain said most complaints were filed between May and early July, but are still incoming.

“The credit card data was then used to create fraudulent credit cards that have been used to purchase goods and services all over the United States and in several foreign countries,” Chamberlain said in a news release.

It is unknown whether it was one or more people that obtained the credit card data, but it is believed the information was obtained through an Internet connection on one or more point of sale machines.

Company president and co-owner Terry R. Powers said the business has taken strides to try to ensure that the credit card information is not compromised in the future. He said Natural Provisions is spending up to $8,000 to make computer improvements.

He said the new system does not retain any credit card information and instead goes directly to the processing site. He said Friday that the former equipment never stored the information about credit cards. A sentence in a news story in Thursday’s Free Press may have given the wrong impression that the old equipment did store the information.

Consumer experts have long encouraged people to carefully check all bank and credit card statements for fraudulent charges each month. The last known problem at Natural Provisions was July 2, Chamberlain said.

Richmond police and U.S. Secret Service are working with Williston police on the case. Chamberlain urged anybody with information on the case or any unreported victims to call Williston Police at 878-6611. They also can call the Consumer Assistance Program at 1-800-649-2424.

Chamberlain said that under Vermont law, businesses that experience a data breach like this one must notify the Attorney General’s Office within 14 days of becoming aware of the breach. The business also must notify its consumers of the breach in the most expedient time possible, which should be within days, but may never be more than 45 days.

Source:http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120727/NEWS02/307270023/Williston-Vermont-credit-card-losses-now-at-120-000-in-Natural-Solutions-case