Thieves steal details of 2,000 credit card users

Published on 30/04/2006 01:13

CREDIT card giant MasterCard is investigating the theft of some 2,000 sets of credit card details.

It is believed that the details were stolen following a security breach at a store based in the UK.

MasterCard has insisted that their own security systems have not been breached and that they are monitoring credit card transactions for signs of suspicious activities.

One Clydesdale Bank customer found out that her card details were in the hands of a fraudster. The theft had been detected and the card was stopped before it could be used by the criminal.

The Clydesdale Bank would not comment except to say it was advised of the problem by MasterCard.

A source at MasterCard said: "MasterCard is aware of a potential security breach at a UK-based retailer. But because this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot disclose specific details regarding the incident or comment, other than to say that we are cooperating and we have notified the banks that issue MasterCard cards to monitor for any suspicious account activity and take the necessary steps to protect cardholders.

He added: "MasterCard's systems have not been breached and no MasterCard data have been compromised. MasterCard International is concerned whenever cardholders are inconvenienced and we will continue to monitor this event.

"As usual, if a MasterCard cardholder is concerned about their individual account, they should contact their issuing financial institution."

MasterCard refused to say how the breach occurred, whether it was limited to the UK or which issuing banks were affected in addition to the Clydesdale.