Thousands of customers of at least five financial institutions serving the Colorado Springs area have had their debit- card numbers stolen through an unidentified local merchant, Colorado Springs police confirmed to The Gazette on Thursday.
Ent Federal Credit Union, southern Colorado’s largest financial institution, began notifying between 1,500 and 1,700 cardholders last weekend that their card numbers had been compromised and about 150 had fraudulent transactions posted to their accounts, said Dana Chippindale, an Ent spokeswoman.
Ent has replaced about 400 cards at customers’ request and notified customers by telephone after a contractor that tracks debit-card usage detected fraudulent activity, she told The Gazette.
Police spokesman Lt. David Whitlock said “thousands” of customers at five financial institutions operating in the Springs area were victims, but added police are “still in the process of putting together what went wrong in this situation.”
