HTA-0628: Neal O'Farrell — Lucky Supermarket Scam Protection

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Summary

Henry interviews cybersecurity expert Neal O'Farrell about helping victims of a Lucky supermarket data breach scam.

Full Transcript

00:00
One of the people that has been assigned by Lucky to try to help people who've been hit with this scam is Neil O'Farrell.

00:06
He is the founder of the Nonprofit Identity Theft Council.

00:10
So you steal identi- no, he doesn't actually steal identities, but he is helping folks who may have been hit with this,

00:16
and we know that it's in the hundreds.

00:17
What can people do who have already been afflicted by this problem?

00:21
I think the first advice we always give is don't panic.

00:24
What we know about this case so far is that it's the theft of cards.

00:27
It's a theft of credit cards of ATM cards. It's not necessarily identity theft

00:32
So it's not it's not the case that someone has hijacked your identity and you're going to be fighting this for the rest of your life

00:36
Do they have the pin numbers as well or the pin numbers or the code numbers on the back?

00:40
Probably if they've got everything on the stripe on the card, they're going to have everything but it's just for the card

00:46
So if you cancel the card whether it's a credit card or debit card, you should be okay

00:50
And you shouldn't be on the hook for any of the losses. Okay

00:57
and helping them get through this. Sure. Yeah, I mean, Lucky contacted us because

01:02
it turns out that one of the individuals who works with the identity theft

01:06
council is a police inspector. She investigates fraud and happened to be in

01:10
her jurisdiction so they approached her so we immediately offered to step in and

01:14
help these victims and I think Lucky are claiming to get about 2,000 calls a day

01:20
Wow. From not necessarily victims, but from consumers who are worried and that's a

01:24
good sign because at least they're reaching out and asking the questions

01:27
and Lucky is able to tell them, you know, what they need to do to protect themselves.

01:30
We'll have that phone number for you, by the way.

01:32
So for folks who don't happen to have been hit by this problem,

01:36
you've got some five fabulous pieces of advice.

01:38
Why don't you just go ahead and give it to them, please?

01:40
Yeah, absolutely.

01:40
I mean, skimming is one of those things that's pretty hard to detect,

01:43
particularly if the device is inside the cash register at the checkout.

01:47
So a couple of things you can do.

01:48
First of all, be vigilant.

01:50
If anything about the cash register looks unusual,

01:52
that it's been tampered with or it's open or the wire sticking out, bypass.

01:57
or notify a manager. Simple ways to use cash. If you're worried about your credit cards,

02:01
your debit cards, use cash. You won't be vulnerable to anything. Yeah, but you have to go to an ATM

02:05
machine to get cash. That's true. Okay. Hey, don't spoil it for me now, but there are other ways to

02:11
get cash, I would hope. Use your credit card instead of a debit card. Remember, if you're using a

02:16
credit card, you're using the bank's money. If you're using an ATM or debit card, it's your money.

02:20
Now, while you'll probably get it back, you may not get it back too quickly. So if you've got

02:24
bills to pay or rent to pay you know it could be a hassle if you're a small

02:28
business owner never use an ATM card or debit card because there's no zero

02:32
liability for a small business account so you're going to be on the hook for

02:35
everything Wow check your credit and banks credit card and bank statements

02:41
almost the most important in a way people don't do it for some reason people do

02:44
they look at it they look at the balance it sounds okay there's the you know

02:47
there isn't a thousand dollar charge for a TV and they they leave it look for the

02:51
small charges. The small charges are typically the telltale sign that someone is tapping into that

02:56
account and taking money out and challenge it immediately. You're still not liable for it,

03:00
but you have to challenge it typically within about 30 days of discovering it.

03:04
So we have about 30 seconds. Can you explain what they did, how they got these numbers?

03:08
We're not quite sure. Typically in a skimming attack like this, it's one of three things. We

03:13
call them the three eyes. It's either an intruder, someone who breaks in at night like a burglar

03:18
and has free range of the store and can do what they like, take as long as they like.

03:22
The second is an imposter.

03:23
Someone walking in dressed as a maintenance guy.

03:26
He looks like he comes from the maintenance company,

03:28
and if he's very abrasive about it, people don't challenge him.

03:32
And the third and the most worrying is an insider.

03:35
Someone, either a dishonest employee or someone who has flipped an employee.

03:39
We don't know in the case of Lucky, but, you know, who knows?

03:42
Yep.

03:42
Okay, so the number there is on your screen.

03:45
It is 888-771-0767 if either you have had a problem or if you're worried that you have a problem.

03:52
Exactly.

03:53
Some fabulous advice, and the website is identitytheftcouncil.org.

03:57
Thank you very much for joining us.

03:59
Marty?

04:00
Oh, I'm sorry.

04:01
We're going to take a break when we come back.

04:02
Gabe Slate, high-tech genius with some fabulous ideas for the holidays.