PEABODY - Beverly resident Ann Sonnichsen planned to pay with cash at T.J. Maxx last night, in reaction to news that the credit and debit card information of millions of customers may have been stolen from the company's computer system.
"I am paying with cash until they find out what is going on," she said, before walking into the Peabody store.
Officials at parent company TJX yesterday refused to say how many T.J. Maxx and Marshall's customers had their information stolen or accessed by a computer hacker. But a credit card industry source who asked not to be identified said the number of customers affected was in the millions.
Spokeswoman Sherry Lang said the Framingham-based TJX has identified a "limited number" of credit and debit cardholders whose information was stolen from its computer system. She said that number of customers is "substantially less than millions" but she would not say how many.
Lang said there was also a "much smaller number" of customer names with driver's license information stolen from the system. Another group of customers' data was accessed, but not stolen, from the computer system during 2003 and between mid-May and December 2006, Lang said.
"We believe that it is safe to shop our stores," Lang said. "We want them to feel safe to shop our stores."
Janice Hansan of Beverly, however, is not taking any chances.
"I don't feel safe giving out my information anywhere," she said. "I don't give out my ZIP code or my phone number when they ask for it. I think they have too much information already."
While she doesn't describe herself as a frequent shopper at T.J. Maxx, she is still concerned about the breach.
Lang said the hackers broke into a system that handles credit and debit card transactions, as well as checks and merchandise returns, for customers in the United States and Puerto Rico. The system may also have information on customers of T.J. Maxx stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The break-in was discovered in mid-December but was kept confidential until Wednesday at the request of law enforcement officials.
The news sent banks and credit card companies scrambling to notify customers and watch for fraudulent activity.
Visa USA said in a statement that it has provided the affected accounts to banks that issue its cards so they can take steps to protect consumers. Visa and other credit card companies pointed out that consumers are not responsible for fraudulent purchases.
"I am paying with cash until they find out what is going on," she said, before walking into the Peabody store.
Officials at parent company TJX yesterday refused to say how many T.J. Maxx and Marshall's customers had their information stolen or accessed by a computer hacker. But a credit card industry source who asked not to be identified said the number of customers affected was in the millions.
Spokeswoman Sherry Lang said the Framingham-based TJX has identified a "limited number" of credit and debit cardholders whose information was stolen from its computer system. She said that number of customers is "substantially less than millions" but she would not say how many.
Lang said there was also a "much smaller number" of customer names with driver's license information stolen from the system. Another group of customers' data was accessed, but not stolen, from the computer system during 2003 and between mid-May and December 2006, Lang said.
"We believe that it is safe to shop our stores," Lang said. "We want them to feel safe to shop our stores."
Janice Hansan of Beverly, however, is not taking any chances.
"I don't feel safe giving out my information anywhere," she said. "I don't give out my ZIP code or my phone number when they ask for it. I think they have too much information already."
While she doesn't describe herself as a frequent shopper at T.J. Maxx, she is still concerned about the breach.
Lang said the hackers broke into a system that handles credit and debit card transactions, as well as checks and merchandise returns, for customers in the United States and Puerto Rico. The system may also have information on customers of T.J. Maxx stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The break-in was discovered in mid-December but was kept confidential until Wednesday at the request of law enforcement officials.
The news sent banks and credit card companies scrambling to notify customers and watch for fraudulent activity.
Visa USA said in a statement that it has provided the affected accounts to banks that issue its cards so they can take steps to protect consumers. Visa and other credit card companies pointed out that consumers are not responsible for fraudulent purchases.
Lang said TJX has not been informed of any fraudulent purchases at this point. The company has established a hot line for concerned customers and posted advice on checking credit records on its Web site. TJX said it has hired General Dynamics Corp. and IBM Corp. to upgrade its security system.
Mike Cook, a co-founder of ID Analytics, a San Diego-based company that detects and prevents identity fraud, said that if hackers target customer data, as in the TJX breach, they will probably try to use the accounts fraudulently. But he said that usually only a small percentage of accounts end up being misused.
"If you are a consumer and you're part of the TJX breach, you are hoping it's 10 million people because the chance of your name being misused goes down considerably depending on the size of the data breach," Cook said.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Check your bills
TJX is recommending its customers carefully review their credit card and debit card statements for unauthorized transactions. If you detect any unauthorized or suspicious use of your card, contact your credit card issuer or bank immediately. Concerned customers may also want to obtain a free credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com.
Anyone concerned about this issue can call TJX's toll-free helpline at 866-484-6978. Anyone looking to contact TJX customer service is asked to send an e-mail to customerservice@tjx.com.
More information can be found on the company's Web site at www.tjx.com.
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