Big corporations like Sony and TJX are not the only victims of cyber attacks. The computer systems for All Pets Club were hacked sometime this spring.
The company has four locations in Connecticut and customers at the Branford and Wallingford stores have reported fraudulent charges on their credit card statements.
"We're not sure where the hackers originated from. We believe it could've come from overseas," Capt. Geoffrey Morgan, of Branford Police, said.
The cyber crooks were able to infiltrate the system at the moment when a credit card is swiped and get the card number before the encryption process. Hackers use that number to make other purchases or create new credit cards with the same number.
David Harvey, of Meriden, is one of the victims.
His credit union notified him about $700 in questionable charges from a Tommy Hilfiger outlet store and a Denny's restaurant in Locust, Georgia.
"My credit union called, saying they had some questions as to some charges that suddenly showed up. They wanted to know if I made any of the purchases," Harvey said.
Local
When the charges were made, Harvey was home in Connecticut.
After some cyber detective work, investigators traced the source of his stolen credit card number to All Pets Club.
Butch Foucault, the owner of the pet store, has run the business for 30 years and this is the most horrible experience of his life, he said.
Foucault said they've put every measure in place to ensure this never happens again, including swapping out the old computers, getting rid of a wireless system and reverting to a telephone line for transactions.
The store has also doubled the firewall and hired a company to monitor every transaction.
However, law enforcement officials warn that it’s difficult to stop the hackers.
"As the technology emerges, so does the sophistication of criminal activity," Morgan said.
After the cyber attack, David Harvey has been reviewing his personal accounts to check for fraudulent activity.
"If you use credit cards, debit cards, checks, just keep an eye on it. Now I'm in the habit of checking my bank account on a daily basis," he said.
Branford police are working with investigators from the Financial Crime Unit of the Secret Service to try to find the source of the scam
