All this talk of being hijacked, has reminded me of something that happened while I was doing the Common Ground show, run by The Guild, in Birmingham Michigan. I used my Starbucks app, on my I-phone, to get a coffee. When I got home I got an email from Starbucks thanking me for putting $50 into my account, which was funny because I didn't put $50 in my account. What was even funnier is that when I looked at my Starbucks app, it said that I had a $0 balance. I went to my account online and looked at the history, it indeed had a $50 entry but it quickly was removed plus the $1.50 that was still in the account. Plus, when I looked at my profile it had a different name with a different home address. I called Starbucks and was told that my account was indeed hacked and had been cleaned out. They immediately reinstalled me in my profile and told me to change my password, which fixed the problem. They did suggest that I cancel my account and sign up for another one but I would lose all my purchase points and I am too cheap for that, so, I just changed the password to something that would take years to figure out by even the fastest scamming software.
Here's the deal though.
1) I did a search on Google and found out that this is a problem that has been going on for over a year and Starbucks has done little to improve their security.
2) Either someone was sitting in the Starbucks with the reader and computer, stealing peoples accounts. Or, it was an employee. The probability of one or the other is 50-50.
3) Consider that the Starbucks app was on an Apple product. So much, for the BS about Apple products being secure, especially on third party apps, which everyone has on their devices.
4) Luckily, being extremely security conscious, I did not link a credit card to my Starbucks account. If I did, there would have been a strong possibility that my card would have been stolen also.
5) I only put a small amount of cash on my Starbucks account. Never more than $10. I never thought I would be hacked, but, by doing this, my loss was minimal.
6) You all should be aware of the possibility of having your accounts or identity stolen when you are a show and are paying for coffee, or eating at a restaurant, or buying supplies at a hardware store. I know an artist who's cc account was stolen at a popular chain hardware store. Always be diligent.
Replies
Jacki, this is a common thing. The fact that it happened in Birmingham makes some sense. People put $50, $100 on their Starbucks card. Thinking that they might have their cc attached to their account makes this more attractive. Plus, think about it. People sit in Starbucks with their laptops and nobody thinks twice about them. It wouldn't be hard for someone to steal $50 or more from a bunch of people. For $10 anyone can get a reader that remotely reads cards with strips. Steal from a few people a day and you can make $1000 per day or more. If you google it, you will find a lot of comments where people have been hacked. Most of the time it is from those gift cards that Starbucks sells.
Seems like a hacker would shoot higher than hacking a Starbucks app. I suppose he would have hit paydirt if you had put a credit card on there. Who would have thought?
Great advice, Barry...one of the many downsides to modern technology.
Very good advice Barry.