Hundreds of customers of Vancouver City Savings Credit
Union, popularly known as Vancity which is one of the largest community credit
unions in Canada, have been requested to change their debit cards and get a new
one after their debit card numbers were stolen while making purchases in Metro
Vancouver.
The Vancity on May 23 confirmed that account of more than
1,000 of its customers have been affected and other bank customers may also
have been affected by the serious banking breach at two local retailers.
According to a report published on CTV Vancouver, Darwin
Sauer, spokesperson at the Vanicity, said that they found out on May 23 from
Central One, their card provider that two Vancouver-area retailers had their
card machines compromised as a result of a skimming operation, under which stealing
of customer’s account information like PIN numbers is done.
“This could mean any customer who used those card machines
or had their card go through those machines could have had their card
compromised,” Sauer told to CTV Vancouver.
According to the company, a total of 1,200 its customers
used their debit cards at the unnamed locations and only two people have
notified the credit union about questionable transactions.
In order to protect its customers, the Vancity has placed
limits on the 1,200 cards that may have been compromised and contacted the
customers who will need to get new cards.
Sauer said people can protect their accounts from such fraud
by changing their PIN regularly and shielding their PIN when entering it.