Like other major retailers, including Target, Neiman Marcus, craft store Michaels and restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s, Home Depot is the latest target of payment data breach that could impact as many as 60 million credit card and debit card holders – the biggest in history, according some experts.
Home Depot released a statement on Monday confirming its systems have in fact been breached, which could potentially impact any customer that has used a credit card or debit card for payment at its U.S. and Canadian stores, from April forward.
The data breach does not appear to have any impact to customers who shopped at its online store or at stores in Mexico.
The data breach was first noticed last week, on Sept. 2, when “unusual activity” was noticed in reports, including fraudulent ATM withdrawals on customer accounts reported by banks. Home Depot was alerted of the data breach by banks and law enforcement agencies.
In a statement, Home Depot said: “We apologize for the frustration and anxiety this has caused our customers.” It also emphasized to its customers that they “will not be responsible for any fraudulent charges” to their account, and it is offering free identity protection services, including credit monitoring at https://homedepot.allclearid.com/.
Customers are also advised to closely monitor payment credit card accounts and to report unusual activity to the issuing bank.
[Source: Home Depot; ABC News.]
Photo by Lotus Head, via Free Images.