14 DAY TRIAL // First American Bank has published a security alert on its website to warn people not to use any of their payment cards to pay for taxis in Chicago. The warning is apparently triggered by a data breach.
“We have become aware of a data breach that occurs when a card is used in Chicago taxis, including American United, Checker, Yellow, and Blue Diamond and others that utilize Taxi Affiliation Services and Dispatch Taxi to process card transactions,” the alert reads.
“We have reported the breach to MasterCard and have kept them apprised of details as they’ve developed. We have also made repeated attempts to deal directly with Banc of America Merchant Services and Bank of America, the payment processors for the taxis, to discontinue payment processing for the companies suffering this compromise until its source is discovered and remediated.”
However, according to First American Bank, Bank of America and Banc of America Merchant Services haven’t shared any information regarding their actions and they don’t appear to have put an end to the breach.
First American Bank says it’s working on closing and reissuing compromised cards. However, until it’s confirmed that the criminal activities have stopped, customers are advised not to use payment cards to pay for taxis in the city.
The financial institution’s representatives have told Brian Krebs that Chi Taxi appears to be the common point of compromise. The bank said it learned of the breach on around February 10, but it goes as far back as December 2013.
First American, which only issues MasterCard debit cards, says it has already reissued 220 cards apparently used for fraudulent transactions. Over 466 suspicious transactions have been identified, the total charges being more than $62,000 (€45,000).
MasterCard representatives have told Krebs that they’ve launched an investigation. Bank of America, Dispatch Taxi, and Taxi Affiliation Services have refused to comment, Krebs says.
ABC informs that Chi Taxi is the payment code used for Taxi Affiliation Services-owned Blue Diamond, Yellow, Checker, and American United.
The number of data breaches in which payment cards have been compromised has skyrocketed over the past months. The first major incident was announced in late 2013 when Target admitted that cybercriminals had stolen the payment card data of as many as 40 million customers.
The latest retailer that has reportedly suffered a breach is Sears. However, the company says it hasn’t found any evidence that its systems have been penetrated by cybercriminals.