Just as is the case often these days, video gamers are victims in a cybersecurity incident. According to the website krebsonsecurity.com, payment information for customers of the website gamestop.com may have been stolen between September 2016 and February 2017.
The data was found for sale on a website and Brian Krebs started to ask some questions. Two financial industry sources reported that they had received alerts from a payment card processor that the online site for Gamestop may have been compromised. The information accessed included names, addresses, card numbers, expiration dates, and the three or four digit code on the card (the CVV). However, Gamestop did not confirm what information may have been involved.
Those who shop online at the site should extra diligent at checking payment card charges for at least the next year. Report anything suspicious to the card issuer right away.
Don’t just check the statements monthly. Make an effort to look at them more often. If possible, set up alerts on your accounts. Many, if not most financial institutions have options that allow you to set spending limit notifications. Then, when a purchase over a set amount is charged to your card, you can be notified right away. However, keep in mind that those who commit fraud often charge small amounts to the cards to avoid immediate suspicion. So set a limit that makes sense for you.
Online merchants are not supposed to store the CVV codes when selling products. However, the hackers have figured out a way to capture that data by placing malware on the e-commerce sites. This allows them to access it before it becomes encrypted and transmitted. Likely, the malware was executed via phishing, although that has not been determined.
Gamestop has hired a company to help investigate the issues. So far, there has been no evidence that their brick and mortar locations have been affected, but just to be safer, those shopping at those places should also watch payment card statements.
According to a Nilson Report from October 2016, debit and credit card losses approached the $22 billion mark for 2015 on a global scale. While merchants and card issuers do take the biggest losses, consumers all take a hit. So, the sooner you report it, the less cost to all parties.
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