The Durango Police Department is warning residents about a large-scale debit- and credit-card fraud that occurred last month and earlier this month at Mama’s Boy Italian Ristorante.
All credit and debit cards used at the restaurant between early August and mid-October were sent to a computer hacker, said Joe Farmer, investigator with the Durango Police Department.
“All of these cards are at risk of being duplicated,” he said.
The computer system at the restaurant, 2659 Main Ave., was hacked in... The Durango Police Department is warning residents about a large-scale debit- and credit-card fraud that occurred last month and earlier this month at Mama’s Boy Italian Ristorante.
All credit and debit cards used at the restaurant between early August and mid-October were sent to a computer hacker, said Joe Farmer, investigator with the Durango Police Department.
“All of these cards are at risk of being duplicated,” he said.
The computer system at the restaurant, 2659 Main Ave., was hacked in early August and infected with a virus that sends financial information back to the hacker, Farmer said. The virus was discovered in mid-October, he said.
More than 70 credit and debit cards have been duplicated and used in other states, he said. But hundreds more have been compromised.
Anyone who visited Mama’s Boy between Aug. 1 and Oct. 15 and paid with a credit or debit card should contact their financial institution immediately, Farmer said.
Any cards used at the business between those dates should be deactivated and replaced before fraudulent activity occurs, he said.
“There are probably literally hundreds and hundreds of cards that have been duplicated or are at risk of being duplicated,” Farmer said.
The restaurant has rebuilt its firewall, and the system is now secure, said Nate Monroe, manager at Mama’s Boy.
“We’ve taken the necessary precautions to safeguard everybody from now on,” he said.
As of Thursday, police had no leads about the hacker or his whereabouts.
Some credit and debit cards were duplicated on blank bank cards and swiped in seven different states including Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York and Missouri. About 60 percent of the fraudulent activity occurred in Florida, Farmer said.
Police first learned about a potential problem Sept. 26, he said. The police investigated for a few weeks, he said, and this week decided to issue a news release to limit the number of victims.
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More info: http://durangoherald.com/article/20111028/NEWS01/710289918/-1/s

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