News: Fraud prompts Flagship to issue new cards
Worcester-based Flagship Bank and Trust Co. recently had to issue nearly 50 new debit cards to customers because of fraudulent activity showing up on some accounts half a world away.
James Garvey, president and CEO of Flagship, said the fraudulent activity popped up in Thailand, where a handful of customer accounts were being used to make ATM withdrawals. While only 48 customers at Flagship bank were affected, approximately 200 customers of banks owned by Vermont-based Chittenden Corp. – Flagship’s parent company – were also issued new cards. In Massachusetts, Chittenden also owns the Bank of Western Massachusetts in Springfield.
The customers affected by the fraudulent use – to which Garvey could not affix a dollar amount – were not held liable for the activity.
News of the use of stolen debit card information of customers of Flagship bank comes on the heels of the much publicized data breach at Framingham-based TJX Cos. announced in January. That breach potentially put millions of credit and debit card information of customers at the company’s various retail stores, including T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and A.J. Wright at risk. In response, banks throughout the region have chosen to either automatically issue new cards to prevent fraud before it happens, or to watch accounts carefully to spot fraudulent use.
"People have to be careful," Garvey said. "It’s just the times we’re in."
In this case, Janet Amorello, vice president and marketing officer for Flagship, said Chittenden’s system of monitoring unusual activity flagged a handful of ATM withdrawals in Thailand. The affected accounts were cross-referenced with a list distributed by MasterCard of potential compromised accounts used at a "smaller retail" establishment, not anywhere on the scale of TJX.
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