LANSING, Mich. — The attorney general's office has issued an alert regarding credit card readers.
The alert comes after VISA sent out a warning regarding using your credit card.
A.G. Dana Nessel issued a the alert on Friday urging credit card users to be aware of a new scam where thieves are getting the cardholders' personal information after they swipe their card.
"By hacking the merchant's point-of-sale networks, thieves are finding ways to steal credit card information from transactions made via card readers," she said in a press release.
VISA recently discovered point-of-sale networks being hacked during transactions.
They are not saying how "widespread" the problem is, or what merchants are experiencing the hacks.
They are saying that "the malware targeted only the card data for magnetic-strip swipe transactions."
The reason they say is because "a magnetic-strip swipe offers little security, there is not a lot you can do to," according to the alert.
The AG's office is offering tips for shoppers over the holiday shopping weekend like use a chip-reader instead of swiping your credit card, and using credit instead of debit.
You can limit your risk taking these precautions:
• Use a payment card with chip technology;
• Look for card readers that use chip-reader technology;
• If swiping is the only option, look for an in-store chip-reader, use a credit card instead of a debit card, or run
your debit transaction as credit;
• Enable real-time alerts on your financial accounts to spot unauthorized activity;
• Keep an eye on your card statements; and
• Consider paying with cash.
Nessel says, "Inserting a payment card with a chip is more secure than swiping a payment card with a magnetic strip. And using a
credit card or running a debit card transaction as credit gives you more protection than running it as debit."
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