Michaels Companies Inc, the biggest U.S. arts and crafts retailer with over 1259 is investigating a possible security breach on its payment card network and advised customers to check their financial statements for fraudulent activity.
This is not the first time the company has faced a data breach. In 2011, about 94,000 payment card numbers were stolen from approximately 80 stores hackers replaced some 84 PIN pads on payment-card terminals at a small number of Michaels stores that resulted in the breach. Michaels is the third major targeted retailer in the past month to be hit with credit card type data breach.
Michaels said federal investigators and an outside forensics firm were investigating to determine if there had been a breach. The company said it decided to warn the public and launch a probe into the matter after hearing that there had been an increase in fraud involving cards of customers who had shopped at its stores.
In a statement Michaels CEO Chuck Rubin stated
“We are concerned there may have been a data security attack on Michaels that may have affected our customers’ payment card information and we are taking aggressive action to determine the nature and scope of the issue.”
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation last week warned retailers to expect more attacks and said the agency has reviewed 20 incidents over the past year that were similar to the recent breaches.