BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Sam's Club has issued a statement concerning recent media reports of credit and debit card skimming at its fuel stations:
At Sam's Club, one of our primary concerns is protecting our members and maintaining the confidentiality of personal information they provide us.
"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 cardholders who purchased gas at Sam's [image-nocss] Club fuel stations last fall,' said Sam's Club Executive Vice President Mark Goodman.
"I want to assure our members that these reports of fraud did not involve transactions inside Sam's Club locations, on samsclub.com or at Wal-Mart stores or on walmart.com, and no Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) 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 news release dated Dec. 2, 2005, Sam's Club acknowledged that it was cooperating with the credit card associations in investigating reports of fraud involving approximately 600 cards used to purchase gas at Sam's Club gas stations between Sept. 21 and Oct. 2, 2005. Sam's Club has hired independent, third-party experts to assist in the investigation and to conduct a review of Sam's Club gas payment systems. Neither the third party experts nor Sam's Club internal security experts have identified any breach in those electronic systems.
In December, Sam's Club also announced that it was working with Visa and MasterCard to identify and hold accountable those responsible for the fraud and that it asked the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Arkansas and the United States Secret Service for assistance in the investigation.
Sam's Club will continue to cooperate fully in this ongoing investigation and will strive to protect our members' private information from unauthorized use or disclosure.
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