News

Sam's Club says cards not compromised inside stores

March 8, 2006

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - In a news release issued last week, Sam's Club denied allegations that its customers' accounts had been compromised after making transactions inside its stores, including Wal-Mart. They did not deny compromises could've been made at fuel stations.

"Because of persistent rumors and false media reports that may have caused concern among our members, we felt it necessary to set the record straight regarding reports of fraud involving debit and credit card holders who purchased gas at Sam's Club fuel stations last fall," said Sam's executive vice president Mark Goodman.

"I want to assure our members that these reports of fraud did not involve transactions inside Sam's Clubs locations, on samsclub.com or at Wal-Mart stores or on walmart.com, and no personal identification numbers were used in any of the fraudulent transactions. If any compromise occurred, it appears to be limited to the Sam's Club fuel station point of sale system."

In a Dec. 2 news release, Sam's said it was cooperating with the credit card associations in investigating reports of fraud involving approximately 600 cards used to purchase gas at its gas stations between Sept. 21, 2005, and Oct. 2, 2005. Sam's also announced that it hired third-party experts to assist in the investigation and review its fuel-station payment systems.

Neither the third-party experts nor Sam's Club's internal security experts have identified any breach in those systems.