New Data Breach at New England’s Stop & Shop

QUINCY, Mass. – Shoppers throughout the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border are being warned that high-tech thieves may have compromised their bank or credit union accounts by breaking into the check-out line card readers at area Shop & Shop supermarkets and planting card skimmers. The company said that consumer account information, including personal identification codes and PINs for cards, was stolen from two stores, in Coventry and Cranston, R.I., and four other stores in Bristol, Providence and Warwick, R.I., and Seekonk, Mass., also had data apparently breached after the card readers were tampered with. As a result, several accounts were reported to be improperly accessed earlier this month. After determining that the card readers had been removed, tampered with, then reinstalled, Stop & Shop began bolting down the readers, the company said. The scheme was uncovered by the U.S. Secret Service. The data breach is the latest in a growing list of cards information thefts, and comes just a fe wweeks after another Massachusetts company, TJ Maxx, reported that accounts at hundreds of banks and credit unions may have been compromised by the theft of its customer information.