Wendy’s Probes Reports of Credit Card Breach

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You might want to check your credit card statements for unusual activity if you've eaten at Wendy's lately. The fast food chain says it has hired a cybersecurity firm and launched an investigation into the matter.

Wendy’s, the nationwide chain of fast-food restaurants, says it is investigating claims of a possible credit card breach at some locations. The acknowledgment comes in response to questions from KrebsOnSecurity about banking industry sources who discovered a pattern of fraud on cards that were all recently used at various Wendy’s locations.
 
I keep reading how more and more companies are moving away from cash transactions entirely. From my prospective, I am moving more and more towards cash for all small transactions and only using a card if the bill is large enough that carrying that much cash is an issue. My wife had her debit card changed 4 times in the last two years due to security breaches at different stores. (Target, Petsmart, Home Depot and one other I can't remember). How tough is it to carry around $20 in cash to avoid that type of hassle?

One other upside of cash is that I'm much less likely to buy 'convenience' stuff when using cash as I actually see the money leaving.
 
Why would you use your credit card at a fast food place?
 
Because the employees don't know how to count change.
I would never hand over my credit card information to employees, who get paid next to nothing, likely have very little education, and evidently questionable morals. You are just asking for problems if you do this.
 
Why would you use your credit card at a fast food place?

Because its usually much faster than waiting for someone to count change and I for the most part do not carry that much cash. It's usually several months between trips to the bank / atm.
 
I would never hand over my credit card information to employees, who get paid next to nothing, likely have very little education, and evidently questionable morals. You are just asking for problems if you do this.

They swipe it, and give you a receipt, all within your view. The issue is the system stores some of that data - how much varies and the less the better. You don't need much to be honest. The breaches tend to happen as the transactions are send back and forth -- that's where the juicy bits are. I'm more concerned when you are out to eat and the card leaves your site. All kinds of crazy can go on there. I love the chip+PIN set up when I travel out of the USA - the terminal is brought you you, you put in you card, enter your PIN, complete the transaction. Your card never leaves your possession.. Too bad it's assumed 'muricans are too stupid to remember another PIN.

Half the fast food employees are in college, not all are with very little education. This, of course varies by location. Morals? This too varies and is highly subjective.

There are inside jobs where the readers are compromised. There was a case locally where the reader device was actually inside the gas pumps, not plastered on the outside. The group doing it paid an employee, or two a % of the take or a fat fee to let them do what they did. Human and social engineering is where it's at for this sort of thing.

I use one card for damn near everything (miles miles miles!) and watch it like a hawk. Haven't had any issues. Plus, I hate carrying cash.
 
They swipe it, and give you a receipt, all within your view. The issue is the system stores some of that data - how much varies and the less the better. You don't need much to be honest. The breaches tend to happen as the transactions are send back and forth -- that's where the juicy bits are. I'm more concerned when you are out to eat and the card leaves your site. All kinds of crazy can go on there. I love the chip+PIN set up when I travel out of the USA - the terminal is brought you you, you put in you card, enter your PIN, complete the transaction. Your card never leaves your possession.. Too bad it's assumed 'muricans are too stupid to remember another PIN.

Half the fast food employees are in college, not all are with very little education. This, of course varies by location. Morals? This too varies and is highly subjective.

There are inside jobs where the readers are compromised. There was a case locally where the reader device was actually inside the gas pumps, not plastered on the outside. The group doing it paid an employee, or two a % of the take or a fat fee to let them do what they did. Human and social engineering is where it's at for this sort of thing.

I use one card for damn near everything (miles miles miles!) and watch it like a hawk. Haven't had any issues. Plus, I hate carrying cash.
PIN would have required the Banks to do something too like setup authentication servers. The chip is mostly on retailer by forcing them to buy new hardware.
 
So the potential breach was late last year, and its the end of January, a month into the new year. Kudos to Wendy's for announcing this relatively quickly.
 
We're finally getting the chip cards now bring on the PINs and be done with this nonsense.
 
If they have a skimmer a thief has everything they need and the card never has to leave your sight for them to get the info.

Oh geezus. I don't care about my CC getting stolen anymore. Chase catches the fraud on the first charge, it gets blocked, and I get a new card overnight. It takes me 10 minutes to change all my automatic bill pays over. Problem solved.

That being said, I never use my debit card except for bank ATMs. Bank is always in a bigger hurry to get their own money back vs mine.
 
Great I almost never use CC for food. But a month or so ago I had an empty wallet and forgot about it and was caught short at the counter so I went for the CC. And I don't go to Wendy's that often either.
 
A lot of people don't carry cash much anymore. Welcome to the 21st century.

Now, instead of pick pocketing, you have to worry about skimmers. There will always be someone wanting to take what isn't there's.
 
No worries for me. I don't inhabit any of the major fast food places. When I do (rarely) go out to eat it I pay with cash.
 
Not this again! Just great, me and my buddies have eaten there within the last month.
 
Why would you use your credit card at a fast food place?

Because it means i get a 1.5% discount off the published price, negotiated for me by my credit card company (sorry cash payers). Plus then I have an easier time returning the food if I don't like it (just kidding!)
 
I would never hand over my credit card information to employees, who get paid next to nothing, likely have very little education, and evidently questionable morals. You are just asking for problems if you do this.

Because here in canada I just tap my card and go?

And I get points. Points pay for my Christmas purchases every year :)
 
My debit card only sees my bank's ATMs. It's never used at 3rd party ATMs or any type of store...ever.

If someone steals your debit card info, they basically steal your money. Use a credit card for better "security" since if it is stolen the bank just refunds it immediately.
 
I use a credit card for all of my daily transactions, food, gas whatever, it gets paid off at the end of the month. Any fraud is covered and I earn cash back or rewards. My debit card only comes out for ATM cash withdrawals, which are rare and I only use the ATMs in the branch.
 
Why would you use your credit card at a fast food place?

Exactly my good sir! I only use my credit card when I go to Nordstroms once a week to buy my wardrobe for the week. I always find it easier to simply dispose of my clothes, rather then wash them as the commoners do. :cool:
 
I really don't understand how anyone can be hurt by this?
I check my credit card balance/transactions every 2-3 days and generally avoid using my debit card and if I do I use the credit card option so there is no way to "share" my PIN. If I notice anything odd I do or receive a notification (BoA) I initiate a chargeback which takes maybe 10-15 minutes on the phone and poof all good.

I am genuinely interested in how any halfway intelligent consumer is harmed by this; inconvenienced maybe, but financially harmed?
 
Yikes. I eat there a lot. Oh well my CC expires in the next few months anyway, think I'll just ride it out.

If it's not the clogged arteries and heart attack that gets you, it's the credit card breach. :D

Seriously though, companies need to be held directly liable for this stuff. It's getting ridiculous how they just don't care about safeguarding our info.

First of all why are they even storing CC numbers in first place? This should not even be stored anywhere once the transaction is over.
 
I keep reading how more and more companies are moving away from cash transactions entirely. From my prospective, I am moving more and more towards cash for all small transactions and only using a card if the bill is large enough that carrying that much cash is an issue. My wife had her debit card changed 4 times in the last two years due to security breaches at different stores. (Target, Petsmart, Home Depot and one other I can't remember). How tough is it to carry around $20 in cash to avoid that type of hassle?

One other upside of cash is that I'm much less likely to buy 'convenience' stuff when using cash as I actually see the money leaving.

Then the ATM you use gets compromised :eek:
 
I would never hand over my credit card information to employees, who get paid next to nothing, likely have very little education, and evidently questionable morals. You are just asking for problems if you do this.

Plastic, imo, is more liquid than cash. Everyone accepts it, and I can use it online. It's convenient. The argument that whatever warm body I hand my card to may use it for nefarious purposes is a bit absurd. The same could be said about every peon working a register to the point where you'd never use your card at a brick & mortar. So when is a good time to use a credit card? Online? That's proven to be really safe. :D

Bottom line, if your credit card number is taken, but the card itself is not stolen, you're not liable for fraudulent charges.
 
Why would you use your credit card at a fast food place?
Because it's Sonic? You drive up to a station, press a button, order your shit, throw a card in the slot, and then wait until someone brings the food out to you.

That said, I think it's high time for these businesses to be hit with fines for keep data beyond the time needed to use it. I swipe my card somewhere, I look on my credit card statement the next day it says it's processing a transaction, beyond 1 week, or hell I'll even concede one billing cycle (1 month) they should not keep any information related to you.
 
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