Michaels Craft Store

The craft store Michaels has recently reported numerous amount of debit-card fraud which have resulted from tampered checkout line terminals originally this fraud was thought to have only hit the Chicago region. However, it has now been reported that 20 states have been hit by the debit-card fraud which consist of Illinois, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and Washington. Illinois was hit the hardest, with PIN pads compromised in 14 Michaels stores, all in the Chicago region. They are Bloomingdale, Burbank, Chicago Ridge, Downers Grove, Glenview, Gurnee, McHenry, Mount Prospect, Naperville, Niles, Norridge, Skokie, Vernon Hills and Willowbrook.

This is causing major concerns because debit-card fraud is worse for consumers than credit-card fraud due to the fact that many Michael’s consumer are having money stolen directly from their bank accounts with ATM withdrawals. To fix this problem the company has begun replacing PIN pads in all U.S. stores this process should be completed within 15 days.

The source of the problem is check-out line swipe terminas were eiether tampered or swapped out for other machines by theives who have stolen PIN codes, and account numbers. Michael’s has traced the stolen money withdrawals to cash machines in California.

This article relates to what we are currently learning in Econ because you have begun teaching us about the risks of credit-cards and leases. I think to protect from credit- card theft your better off always using cash at stores.

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