Macy's Multiple Debits = Multiple Questions?

Macy's Multiple Debits = Multiple Questions?

Posted by John B. Frank Monday, January 5, 2009

Evan Shuman (and Fred J. Aun) wrote an interesting story regarding the recent "multiple debits" charged to 8000 Macy's debit card customers. Like the recent RBS breach, (see: Mother of All Hacks Coming?) it was "quietly" announced (purposefully?) during the busy holiday season when many reporters are on holiday. Unlike the RBS breach, and to Macy's credit...er...debit, they didn't wait 2 months (see below) to announce it. Here's the story from StorefrontBackTalk.com

Questions Surround Some 8,000 Macy's Debit Cards That Got Charged Repeatedly

When Macy's distributed a very cryptic statement on Dec. 23 that "some" debit card customers had been charged had seen "multiple" debits for single transactions, it went virtually unnoticed.

Much of that had to do with the very quiet way Macy's shared that knowledge, by E-mailing it to a handful of reporters, many of whom were on vacation. Unlike the typical way Macy's—and others—make statements, there was no statement issued to any of the major news release wires nor was it was placed on their own news release page. It was ideally handled if someone wanted to say that they "announced" something but have no one know about it.

Continue Reading at StorefrontBackTalk

In a related story, BTN came down on RBS for waiting two months before announcing that 1.5 million of it's customers were breached.

"Our Computers Were Compromised…Two Months Ago" - 01..2009 - Bank Technology News Article

"The institution discovered the breach shortly after Halloween, yet apparently waited almost two months—an eternity in ID theft time—before making a public announcement. That has some people scratching their heads. “Two months? That’s enough time for someone to go out and apply for a loan under your name, to get a credit card, to mess up your credit. The way to build trust in relationships is with communication,” says Jacob Jegher, an analyst at Celent."

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