LENEXA, Kans.–Cardholders of Mainstreet Credit Union have been hit with more than $200,000 in fraudulent charges from crooks making purchases out of a company based in China.
The $378-million CU’s CEO, John Beverlin, told CUtoday.info that the losses to 300 debit cardholders do not stem from a hack of the credit union’s system, as was reported previously by a local news outlet.
“We believe these charges resulted from a retailer breach at some earlier point and the crooks are just now getting around to using the data, or they came from a breach that has yet to be announced,” said Beverlin. “There is no evidence that our system or any other systems related to the credit union were hacked.”
Beverlin also said he cannot confirm the hackers are based in China, only that the charges were funneled through a company based in Shanghai.
Beverlin said the CU, which was alerted of the suspicious charges by Star Network over the weekend, said it is in the process of looking at databases to determine the root of the theft.
Meanwhile, affected members are being reissued cards and losses have been covered by the credit union.