Safeway discovers credit card skimmers in Calif. and Colorado, no data breach
Safeway discovers credit card skimmers in Calif. and Colorado, no data breach
Safeway discovered credit card skimmers, devices illegally installed on card readers to steal credit card information, in five of its stores. The company was quick to point out that this is not being classified in any way as a data breach. 
The discoveries, which Safeway described as "rare" and "isolated incidents," were made during the company's own routine inspections. As a result, the impact was minimal.
"No credit or debit card data from our Northern California stores was captured by the two skimmers that were discovered in September," said Brian Dowling, vice president of public affairs at Safeway. "Three skimmers were discovered in Colorado in early November and the impact was limited."
Dowling added that no skimmers have been discovered since that time.
"Like all responsible business owners, our store teams routinely inspect all point-of-sale devices and discovered the two skimmers during these inspections," Dowling said.
When Safeway finds evidence of criminal activity like this, it has been able to pinpoint with surveillance video when the devices were installed and how many transactions were processed. "We immediately followed the proper protocol of contacting law enforcement and the banks that service the few cards that were used on those pin pads," Dowling said.