28 Replies
Dinosara said

Well it happened to me.

At the end of February I bought a teacup at a Teavana in San Francisco. I used my credit card and at the time the guy working at the store checked my ID because he said that he had recently had his credit card info stolen so he was providing extra security for customers. Fat lot of good that did me! A few days later my card was used to buy several hundred dollars in Starbucks gift cards. I always thought it was the purchase at Teavana that caused the breach because the coincidence was too great. I even mentioned it in my fraud report on my credit card! Looks like I was right.

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Erin said

Unfortunately, it seems more and more like identity theft is more so a question of “when”, not “if” it will happen to you.

Dinosara said

Yeah I’m old hat at this by now. There was a period of time when I had an apparently very unsecure credit card and it got compromised about every 2-3 months. Needless to say I don’t use that card anymore, but I’ve still had two other cards compromised in the same way as things like this, where a merchant’s credit card database was hacked and a bunch of card numbers stolen.

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Dustin said

Guess I’ll have to go back and take a closer look at my CC statements. I wonder if the breach includes cards used for online purchases or if it is exclusively in store.

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momo said

The article says it was software on the point of sales system, but if you’ve ordered recently online, you might get a suspicious activity warning from your bank/credit card just to be on the safe side. I’m hoping they didn’t get far enough back to the last time I bought anything in a store, I hate dealing with this stuff :/

Kind of love Starbucks’ reaction of “we’re only talking to banks and credit card companies.” Well if that’s not a resounding yes there’s a compromise…

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Ugh. I’ll definitely have to keep an eye on my statement now. I just made a purchase at one of their stores back in March. Such a hassle. And I didn’t even really enjoy the tea I ended up getting there. Lol.

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Gene said

I’ve been hit with fraud, too! Very frustrating. As for internet purchases, I have a special very low limit card which is the ONLY card i use for internet purchases. If the card is ever hacked the theifs can’t score thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise. the card limit is too low!

Dustin said

From what I hear, you are more likely to get your CC info stolen from use in restaurants than online. :/

Dinosara said

Yeah, all of my breaches have been from using my credit card at actual brick-and-mortar stores or gas stations who have their point-of-sale credit card machines hacked into. You really can’t win.

That is a super idea! Another idea is to use the gift credit cardss to purchase stuff online.

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oh. my. goodness. This happened to me a couple months ago and I had no idea how someone got my info. My card company said that there was an actual conterfeit card of mine made, and the purchases were for $700 and $900 at a Target in Brooklyn NY. I had no idea it was because of a breach at Teavana but my story lines up PERFECTLY with what this article says. I am shocked and relieved right now…because I know how it happened but I’m still pissed. THANK YOU for posting this!!!

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Hikari said

From you all’s stories, most of these frauds happened after a purchase in store. Are internet purchases at risk as well?

Ditto.

Dinosara said

I think it’s mostly in store stuff, but I’d keep an eye on your credit card activity anyway (always a good practice in any case).

Hikari said

Ok, I just realized how stupid that sounded..sorry folks.

momo said

Not stupid at all, Hikari! I know specifically Bank of America was calling/emailing regarding even online orders placed by people recently and sending them new cards even though it looks to be based in store. It most likely didn’t happen online as those are likely handled separately, but on the safe side be on the lookout. I know BoA gets kind of too proactive sometimes…if I reload my transit card and use my debit card as a credit card I have to confirm a bunch of purchases as mine in order to get use of the card again. Sooo annoying but at least they’re looking out.

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Chelle said

I just looked through my bank statements to be on the safe side. I made a Teavana store purchase back in March as well. Nothing has turned up so far but I think I will talk to my bank for a heads up.

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This was happening at our local Teavana here last fall.

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