Breach, Data Security

Report: Mass. bank customers getting replacement cards

Bank of America and Citigroup account holders living in Massachusetts recently have received replacement credit and debit cards, according to a report Monday, but bank representatives do not believe a new data breach is to blame.

"I am completely unaware of anything new," Janis Tarter, a Citi spokeswoman, told SCMagazineUS.com Monday in response to the report in the Boston Business Journal. The story, which cited letters received by customers, did not say how many residents of the Bay State received reissued cards.

Tarter could not further comment, only to say that when the bank becomes aware of a breach through its fraud monitoring systems, it alerts customers "who we think may be at increased risk due to suspicious activity."

"For security reasons, we don't discuss details of the potential compromises, such as the number of customers potentially at risk, or our specific actions in each case to detect and prevent fraud," she said.

Bank of America, similarly, had little to add.

"I can't comment on a specific incident or third-party, but as standard procedure, if we see misuse or the potential for misuse of cards through our fraud monitoring, we will notify the customer and block [their accounts] and reissue their cards," spokeswoman Betty Riess told SCMagazineUS.com in an email.


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