PEABODY — Gerald Silver longs for simpler times, when shoppers paid for purchases with cash or check and didn't worry about pesky matters like identity fraud.

He has his reasons.

The Peabody resident and his companion, Rhonda Fisher, have twice had their personal credit information exposed. So when Silver learned their credit cards might have been compromised at the West Peabody Hannaford supermarket, he went on the offensive.

The Maine-based grocery chain is the latest retailer attacked by cyber thieves collecting customer information. Hannaford's Web site said the company first learned of the security intrusion Feb. 27, and debit and credit cards used between Dec. 7, 2007, and March 10, 2008, could have been exposed.

Silver was one of the thousands of customers whose names and credit card numbers were accidentally delivered with bundles of Boston Globe newspapers in February 2006. He had to get a new card number and individually update all his automatic payments to various companies, a time-consuming process.

Then, in January 2007, Fisher learned her TJX card bore one of the 45 million credit and debit card numbers stolen from the database of the parent company of T.J. Maxx. She canceled the card.

In both cases, the companies contacted the couple directly and offered free credit monitoring for a year, Silver said.

But he's frustrated with Hannaford, which is making no such offer and, in his opinion, is mishandling the situation.

Two phone calls and three conversations later, Silver says he was no closer to learning whether his or Fisher's cards had been affected in the Hannaford breach. A customer service manager in Maine told him the security attack could have happened to any company. It's a fact that doesn't help him.

"It doesn't show any concern or empathy for the position of the customer who's an innocent victim of their break," he said.

Hannaford says its breach is different from the Globe and TJX incidents.

Company spokeswoman Carol Eleazer said Hannaford isn't offering credit monitoring because only the numbers were stolen. No identifying information was connected with the breach, she said.

"That's a major distinction," she said. "People can charge to that account number, but they don't know who's getting the bill."

The spokeswoman said that unlike other supermarkets, Hannaford does not collect personal information about its customers. Instead, the information is held with the issuing bank.

"We don't know who our customers are," she said. "We don't keep their card number."

Silver wanted more guarantees from the Maine-based grocery store chain that he'd be protected from theft. He described their responses as "boilerplate."

The Peabody couple now drive out of their way to shop at a competitor.

"Things were a lot simpler in the olden days," Silver said.

Eleazer said the grocery chain is working with banks to ensure their customers have safeguards, but each bank has its own varying levels of protection.

She advised customers to check their bank statements to be sure all charges are legitimate and call their financial institutions if they see any irregularities.

She also stressed that Hannaford would not call customers to ask them about their credit or personal information, a tactic of ne'er-do-wells trying to capitalize on the initial breach.

"No one from Hannaford will call because we don't know who you are," Eleazer said. "So we have been trying to make customers aware and arm them with information."

Hannaford posted these recommendations at stores and on its Web site, Eleazer said. After the company learned it had been targeted, executives decided to build a call center to handle customer questions.

The spokeswoman said the company had what is considered the gold standard of security measures in place, but the attack on the system was "quite novel and quite sophisticated."

"This could have happened to any retailer," she said. "These attacks do happen to retailers from time to time."

The company is working with the Secret Service and information technology professionals to track down culprits and find out exactly what happened.

Eleazer hoped Silver and Fisher would reconsider their decision to shop elsewhere.

"I understand his decision, but I hope he might give us a second chance to make right by him," she said.

Take precautions

r Contact your credit card company's fraud department to notify it the card was used at Hannaford during the affected period: Dec. 7, 2007, to March 10.

r Carefully review your own recent and current credit card or bank account statements, starting as early as Dec. 7, 2007. Consumers are encouraged to check statements online to detect unauthorized purchases early.

r If there is any evidence of unauthorized credit card use, consider canceling the account or requesting a new card..

Source: Attorney General Martha Coakley's office