SideBar

Related Items

Stories

Videos

Shoppers going into T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s stores were looking for a bargain and came out with a sour deal – possible identity theft. 

In January, the company – consisting of the two stores and Home Goods – announced computer hackers had stolen stored credit and debit card numbers.  But what’s new is the larger number of people hit by the scammer, now estimated at 45.7 million nationwide. 

The Minnesota Credit Union Network says of their 1.5 million members, 20 percent have likely been hit by the breach.  It will cost the credit unions hundreds of thousands of dollars, because it costs at least $25.00 to replace each card.

In hopes of avoiding rising consumer costs, the Credit Union Network is backing a bill making it illegal for retailers to store customer credit card numbers.  It could prevent another breach of this kind. 

Today, T.J. Maxx released a statement saying, “We have spent significant resources to strengthen the security of our systems and believe it is safe for customers to shop at our stores.”

Still, it could be a hard sell to some customers affected by the breach.