SCU members affected in debit card scam

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This article was published 14/12/2014 (3420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steinbach Credit Union members are among those customers who had money stolen from their accounts over the weekend.

CEO Glenn Friesen confirmed that Steinbach Credit Union was one of a number of financial institutions that fell victim to a suspected card-skimming scheme, which involves modifying a debit-card reader to steal banking information and using that data to steal money.

Friesen said as many as 210 debit cards could have been compromised. He said once their system detects fraud, all potentially impacted cards are cancelled.

“Just because 210 cards were potentially exposed, there may have been many fewer that were used in the fraud,” wrote Friesen in an email.

A number of other Manitoba financial institutions, including Assiniboine Credit Union and Cambrian Credit Union, reported yesterday their customers were impacted by the scam between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Friesen said any SCU member afflicted by the fraud will be fully reimbursed.

“It is very disappointing that businesses are not required to use chip technology,” he said. “If all businesses had chip technology, these frauds would not happen.”

All Canadian retailers are required to use chip-compliant debit cards by 2015.

Access Credit Union CEO Larry Davey said his credit union is looking into the skimming incident but were unaware if any of their clients have been impacted.

It is encouraged that credit union customers examine their own personal accounts to see if they were affected. The money withdrawals reportedly originated out of New York.