Golden 1 CU Cancels 'Skimmed'Cards

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - (11/11/05) -- Credit union giant Golden 1 CU saidThursday it was forced to cancel about 1,300 of its debit cardsthis week because it believed online thieves have obtained memberinformation via a 'skimming' scheme at a point-of-sale at a localmerchant. The credit union informed members in an email that thefraud operation resulted in counterfeit cards being made and usedinternationally. In skimming, thieves use a small device to readcard the magnetic strip on the back of a card when the customeruses the card for a payment. The affected Golden 1 CU cardholders,a small portion of the credit union's 480,000 cardholders, werenotified by phone or email and replacement cards were issuedimmediately.