Card cancellations cause customer embarrassment
(30 May 2011 – Australia) Some Australian shoppers were without credit cards last weekend, with a security breach forcing banks to cancel thousands of cards.
The breach involved the client of an Australian bank offering card transaction facilities.
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Westpac, National Australia Bank (NAB) and St George Bank said they had cancelled credit cards to protect customers. An ANZ spokesman said the bank was monitoring events closely but had not blocked credit cards yet.
The cancellations impacted immediately as customers over the weekend discovered they could not make credit card purchases, and in the longer term periodic payments made by credit card would fail, if payment details were not updated.
Some banks made an effort to contact affected customers so they did not face the embarrassment of purchases such as regular supermarket shopping paid by credit card being refused.
The CBA said it had used SMS, email and letters to tell 8000 customers of the potential breach. In its statement, the CBA said the Australian merchant's account was administered by another bank, but CBA customers were among victims.
The banks said customers would be compensated if funds were stolen because of the fraud.
'The bank continuously monitors all credit card transactions to protect our customers from fraud and during this process we became aware of a potential credit card compromise through an Australian merchant acquired by another bank,' the CBA said in a statement.
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Westpac, National Australia Bank (NAB) and St George Bank said they had cancelled credit cards to protect customers. An ANZ spokesman said the bank was monitoring events closely but had not blocked credit cards yet.
The cancellations impacted immediately as customers over the weekend discovered they could not make credit card purchases, and in the longer term periodic payments made by credit card would fail, if payment details were not updated.
Some banks made an effort to contact affected customers so they did not face the embarrassment of purchases such as regular supermarket shopping paid by credit card being refused.
The CBA said it had used SMS, email and letters to tell 8000 customers of the potential breach. In its statement, the CBA said the Australian merchant's account was administered by another bank, but CBA customers were among victims.
The banks said customers would be compensated if funds were stolen because of the fraud.
'The bank continuously monitors all credit card transactions to protect our customers from fraud and during this process we became aware of a potential credit card compromise through an Australian merchant acquired by another bank,' the CBA said in a statement.
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