TJX Data Breach Exposed 94M Credit Cards

Still no arrests after up to $83M is spent with stolen numbers
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 24, 2007 7:15 PM CDT
TJX Data Breach Exposed 94M Credit Cards
At least 94 million Mastercard and Visa accounts have been exposed to potential fraud due to a massive data breach.   (Shutterstock.com)

Cyber thieves have pinched 94 million credit cards from a discount retailer—double the last estimate—and spent up to $83 million as far as Hong Kong and Sweden, the AP reports. Banks are now suing the retailer, TJX Cos., to recover their losses. But those losses keep growing: "You know, these [card numbers] are going to be sold off for a period of time in the future, so it's going to continue," says a Visa exec.

Police have made no arrests since TJX conceded 45.7 million lost numbers in March, but Canadian officials did track the theft to transfers at two Miami-area Marshalls stores. TJX, the owner of 2,500 retail outlets in the US and Canada, claims that 75% of the numbers are still secure—either expired or protected by a magnetic strip. (More TJX stories.)

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