Coakley reissues warning to Hannaford customers

Attorney General Martha Coakley today upgraded her warning to consumers who recently have shopped at Hannaford Bros. supermarkets, following the Maine company's disclosure of a data breach that potentially compromised millions of payment card numbers.

She urged customers to contact their banks if they shopped at a Hannaford store and paid with plastic between Dec. 7 to March 10, the period the company believes its data was vulnerable. Those people, she said in a statement from her office, "should assume that their credit or debit card numbers have been compromised.''

Hannaford hasn't given many details of the breach, but has said it doesn't believe names or addresses were compromised as part of the intrusion. That could make shoppers identities less vulnerable to identity theft. But Hannaford cannot confirm whether or not a particular card number was compromised, which could leave it vulnerable to misuse.

Coakley said she is urging store customers from the four-month period to take several steps. First, they should contact the fraud department of their bank or credit-card issuer, who should monitor the account for any suspicious activity.

Also, they should review their own recent and current card and bank account statements to check for unauthorized purchases. People who find unauthorized use use should consider cancelling the account or requesting a new payment card, she said.
(By Ross Kerber, Globe staff)