The Scary Reason Some Costco Shoppers Are Receiving Fraudulent Charges
Costco shoppers may be facing a serious problem. A few weeks ago, a Reddit user noticed that they were receiving fraudulent charges on a Costco Visa card they used exclusively for Costco shopping online, in-store, or while filling up gas there. Other Costco shoppers on Reddit noticed fraudulent charges on their cards as well, with one person describing an unauthorized attempt to buy a $314 swimsuit. On Twitter, someone complained that they had "discovered $2200 of fraudulent credit card charges" immediately after they used their card to renew their membership at Costco.
In August, Costco learned that customer data may have been stolen by five card-skimming devices that were found at four warehouses in or around Chicago during a regular inspection (via Fox Business). Costco sent a letter dated November 5 to all customers who shopped at the Chicago warehouses during that timeframe, notifying them of a possible data breach that they might have been a victim of.
Costco's offer to affected customers
The notification letter was sent to everybody who used their card to make a purchase at any one of Costco's affected locations. According to the letter, the customers' names, card numbers, card expiration dates, and even the CVV numbers may have been accessed by the card skimmers. The company urged shoppers to go through their credit card and bank statements for any suspicious charges and notify the relevant card issuers.
The news was broken by Bleeping Computer, after which Costco told Fox Business that the wholesaler "promptly removed the skimmers, notified law enforcement, and engaged a forensics firm to analyze the devices." While Costco deals with the data breach and investigates the full extent of it, the chain is offering a year of IDX theft protection services for free. Those who received an enrollment code from Costco can contact IDX directly and get an insurance reimbursement policy worth up to $1,000,000. Protection services also include a system that monitors clients' cards.