More Heartland-Related Fraud Detected

More Heartland-Related Fraud Detected (source: BankInfoSecurity.com)

A Florida credit union must issue 12,000 new debit cards after new fraud attempts traced back to the Heartland Payment Systems data breach.

The MidFlorida Federal Credit Union's is taking this action, according to chief operating officer Kathy Britt, because of the continued risk of fraud.

Britt says the $1 billion-asset, Lakeland, FL-based credit union already reissued new cards to about 5,000 of its members in 2009, after the breach was made public. Britt says the new replacements follow recent fraud attempts on cards involved in the Heartland breach.

The credit union has about 80,000 debit card holders. The credit union sent notices out to affected cardholders March 26, telling them they will receive new cards. Britt says customers are being asked to review their accounts for possible suspicious activity.

Heartland, a New Jersey-based payment processing company, announced a major data breach in January 2009. The largest such breach on record, it involved 130 million credit and debit card transactions. The breach affected MidFlorida customers who used their debit cards at retailers on Heartland's network.

Albert Gonzalez, the mastermind behind the Heartland breach and similar incidents, was sentenced to concurrent prison terms on March 25 and 26.

MidFlorida FCU is not the first institution that has reported new fraudulent activity related to the Heartland breach. In March, First National Bank of Durango in Colorado came forward, saying it was forced to replace 5,000 debit cards because of fraudulent transactions.