Data theft puts HK credit cards at risk
Thousands of Hong Kong credit card holders might need to have their cards replaced following the world's worst breach of privacy.
Giant US retailer TJX yesterday revealed personal information from about 45.7 million credit and debit cards - including names, addresses and personal identity numbers - had been stolen by computer hackers over 18 months from July 2005. The breach was discovered last month but the company only revealed the extent of the theft yesterday.
TJX operates the TJ Maxx and Marshall's chains in the US and TK Maxx in Britain and Ireland.
TJX did not reveal which card providers were affected, but last night the US headquarters of MasterCard said it had notified banks that issued cards that could be at risk to monitor suspicious account activity. The card scheme operator, however, would not disclose how many of its cards were affected worldwide.
'Because this incident is the subject of an ongoing law-enforcement investigation, we cannot disclose additional details regarding the incident or otherwise comments at this time,' it said in a statement.
In Hong Kong, unconfirmed reports said about 3,000 local MasterCards had been exposed to the threat and would require replacement. Visa could not be reached last night for comment on the number of its cards that might be affected locally.
The Monetary Authority said it was aware of the incident and had followed up the matter with the credit operators and banks. 'We understand that the card-issuing banks concerned have already taken action to prevent unauthorised transactions using the potentially affected cards,' a spokesman said. 'Measures included monitoring transactions using these cards and contacting the cardholders to suspend or stop the use of the cards and issuing replacements.'
The Monetary Authority also said cardholders affected would not be required to bear the cost of any fraud.
'According to the code of banking practices, card issuers will bear the full loss incurred when faults have occurred in the terminals or other systems used,' a spokesman said.
