Police think a county computer server may have been hacked into and compromised, perhaps by someone overseas.
Syracuse police have learned of dozens of local cases of credit card fraud that they traced back to charges at the Onondaga County Civic Center, the War Memorial or Oncenter. There could be more cases, they said.
Sgt. Tom Connellan asked those who may have used a credit or debit card at the venues in the past 10 months to check over statements. “Take a good look,” Connellan said.
The investigation began when a number of people alerted police that their cards had been fraudulently charged, said Detective Anthony Colavita, of the department’s fraud investigation unit.
Right now, police think a county computer server may have been hacked into and compromised, perhaps by someone overseas. A number of charges – some of which were refused by banks – were made in Russia.
Most of the 50 or so victims are government employees who frequent the buildings, said Connellan. But, he said, others could be affected as well.
Connellan urged anyone who found a suspicious charge to alert police and their financial institution.
It’s now safe to use plastic at the Civic Center and the other spots, Colavita said. He said the county has changed its system, making it much harder for criminals to compromise credit card data.
Colavita said that incidents similar to what happened here happened to large retail chains, including T.J. Maxx stores in 2007 and more recently at Aldi stores in the Rochester area.
Police said they didn’t know the “specific point of compromise” in Onondaga County. The cards weren’t taken, but instead the information contained on the magnetic strip was copied and a new card made. The new card was then used to make fraudulent purchases, “typically gift cards,” Colavita said.
He said that large retailers had beefed up their security, making them tougher targets for “carders” who steal information and then clone cards, or sell the data to others. Adapting to the change, he said, carders are targeting smaller, less sophisticated operations.
Police didn’t know the value of the fraudulent charges made. Many were turned down by banks that automatically “flag” suspicious charges, such as large overseas purchases, Colavita said.
However, he said, charges were made against some of the cards in the United States as well.
Contact Charles McChesney at cmcchesney@syracuse.com.
