Target breach hits local cardholders

By OLIVIA HASELWOOD

Staff writer

It has taken a couple of weeks, but the credit card number security breach at Target that affected 40 million shoppers from Black Friday until Dec. 15 has begin trickling down to Marion County residents.

Sherry Hess said one of her daughters had $600 stolen from a card she used at Target during that time.

“There were several charges,” she said.

The bank refunded the money, but that did not get rid of the inconvenience several residents like Jessica Snyder, Dustin Hanes, and Feebie Holdeman have had to endure because of the breach. All had their debit cards canceled and new ones issued after shopping at Target during the time of the breach. It will take more than a week for most to receive new cards from their bank.

Nearly every area bank including Hillsboro State Bank, Peabody State Bank, Marion National Bank, Central National Bank, and Emprise Bank of Hillsboro have had cards compromised.

When it comes to dealing with the breach personally, bank officials have advised their customers to keep an eye on their accounts and contact their bank if they believe any fraudulent charges have occurred.

“We have a list of potential cards that might have been compromised and we’ve contacted all of those card holders,” Cynthia Fleming, president of Hillsboro State Bank, said. “We’re not aware of any of our customers having fraudulent charges but ask that if they see any, or suspect that their card might be compromised, to contact us to take care of the problem.”

Dennis Riggs of Peabody State Bank said their standard procedure in breaches such as these are to issue new cards to those that may have been compromised and cancel the old ones.

“It takes a lot of the guess work out of the process,” he said.

His advice for those that may have been affected is to watch out for scam calls over the next few months asking residents to give out their bank card numbers to protect them.

“Don’t give out your card number over the phone to anyone ever,” he said.

Riggs said most banks only contact customers via mail or email.

Because Emprise Bank has several Wichita locations, they have implemented spending limits on cards that may have been compromised in addition to issuing new cards.

The Target breach has been called the second biggest credit breach in U.S. history, compromising more than 40 million cardholders across the country.