At this point, it’s hard to imagine anyone that engages in commerce in the U.S. not having been affected by one of the numerous data breaches that have occurred in recent years. Now, even those who try to get respite from daily stresses by staying at a Starwood property can’t take a rest from watching payment card statements.
Those who have stayed at a Westin, Sheraton, or other Starwood property within the past year may have had their card information stolen in a recently announced breach of its point of sale (POS) payment system as far back as November 2014. The properties that were affected range from coast to coast and include at least one Sheraton in Montreal, Canada. Payment card numbers, security codes, cardholder names, and expiration dates were included in the stolen information.
If you have used your debit or credit card at a Starwood property within the last year, ensure you check those statements often. Do this at least monthly for the next year. Report anything potentially fraudulent to the card issuing organization immediately. The sooner you do this, the quicker it will get resolved and the potential losses to you and your financial institution will be minimized.
In addition, if you are given the option to choose whether you will use your payment card as a debit or credit card, choose credit. It provides additional protections that a debit card may not. Also, if your debit card is cloned and used at an ATM, the thieves can empty your bank account before you know it.
According to some reports, financial institutions paid more than $200 million for the Target breach of two years ago. On average, it is estimated that a breached organization pays somewhere around $6 million. Target claimed that breach costs it $142 million and some estimate that the company is still trying to recover from that. The average cost of stolen payment card information for the victim is estimated to be over $200 for each occurrence.
Starwood properties has a list of affected properties on the media page of its website. It impacted sales at some restaurants, gift shops, and other locations that use the particular POS system. The company is offering one year of free credit monitoring services to affected customers. It is recommended that if this service is offered to you, take advantage of it. While it will not prevent fraud, the credit monitoring service will alert you when a request for your credit information occurs. If you did not request it, you will be able to respond to it right away.
The reservations or loyalty card systems were not part of the breach. The malware has been removed and no longer presents a threat to customers, according a statement from the company.
For banks and credit unions
Share this article with your members
Copy a ready-made summary and link for your newsletter, website or social posts.
