Credit Card Fraud leads to warning for Canadian Card Holders

Credit Card Fraud leads to warning for Canadian Card Holders

Canadian credit card companies are warning their users and other financial institutions to take extra precaution with their cards to keep a track on the financial transactions being done through them. This warning came after the major security breach reported in the United States, which has said to have put details of around 40 million credit card holders at risk.

This breach is said to be affecting around 240,000 Visa cardholders in the country of Canada alone! A statement from the Visa Company said: “We are still trying to determine the cards that have the potential of being compromised. But if anyone sees anything unusual, they should contact their financial institution immediately.”

The breach was reported yesterday by MasterCard International Inc. and was traced back to the Atlanta-based CardSystems Solutions Inc., which processes credit card and other payments for banks and merchants. This also happens to be the largest security glitch of its kind in the history of Credit Cards. A spokesperson for MasterCard Canada said the majority of the nearly 14 million MasterCard card users affected by the scandal are American.

Jennifer Reed, vice president of public affairs for MasterCard Canada said in a statement: “Ninety per cent are U.S.-based card holders and the other 10 per cent are internationally based, but I do not have the specific figure for Canada.” However, the companies are encouraging users to continue using their credit cards for routine transactions.