TK Maxx shoppers hit by major fraud

[SPDAY]

Hackers stole the bank card details of millions of Irish, British
and US shoppers in what is thought to be the world's biggest ever
credit card heist

The crooks extracted at least 45.7 million credit and debit card
numbers from the US and UK-based computer systems of the American
retailer that owns bargain chain TK Maxx

Banks and card companies have already found "preliminary evidence"
of fraud using the data stolen from TJX, and law enforcement
authorities are investigating possible cases

The numbers were accessed on the company's systems in Watford, in
England, and Framingham, Massachusetts, over a 17-month period and
cover transactions dating as far back as December 2002

The firm did not know how many of the cardholders affected were
shoppers at TK Maxx's 210 stores in Britain and Ireland, although
more of them were likely to be American

Nor could a spokeswoman say whether any of the reports of possible
fraud came from UK police. The firm does not know who the
intruders were, or how many people were part of the scam

Two computer files out of 100 the hackers took from the Framingham
system last year had apparently been moved from Watford