Customers of Costco Wholesale Corporation were notified earlier this month that their credit card information might have been taken when purchasing at one of its shops. The retail behemoth (aka Costco Wholesale and Costco) is an American multinational company that owns and manages a huge chain of membership-only retail outlets.
According to Fortune 500 rankings, Costco is the fifth-largest retailer globally and the tenth-largest firm in the United States by total revenue. It has 737 warehouses globally, and it runs e-commerce websites in numerous geographical areas, including the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
During a regular inspection, Costco staff detected a payment card skimming device in one of its warehouses, which led to the discovery of the breach. The business removed the device, alerted authorities, and is currently cooperating with law enforcement officers investigating the situation.
In breach notification letters, Costco warned possibly vulnerable customers that they had just detected a payment card skimming device at a Costco facility. Individuals affected by the incident may have had their payment information taken if those who deployed the card theft device could access the lead before the skimmer was discovered and destroyed, as per Costco.
Costco revealed that if unauthorized individuals could remove information from the device before it was identified, they might have obtained the magnetic stripe of a payment card, containing name, card number, expiration date, and CVV. According to the retailer, customers should watch their bank and credit card bills for fraudulent charges and report any questionable transactions to the appropriate financial institutions.
The number of impacted consumers or the warehouse location where the skimmer device was discovered was not disclosed in the data breach notification letters issued to affected people. According to the business, Costco customers have been complaining about illegal transactions on their credit cards since at least February, but the exact date of the situation is unknown.
