Schnucks: Source of credit card problem found

ST. LOUIS -- A credit card fraud problem at Schnucks supermarkets has been traced to a "cyberattack," and the chain has taken steps to block unauthorized access in the future, the company announced Saturday.

Schnuck Markets Inc., based in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights, in a news release said a computer forensic firm it hired discovered a computer code was recording data from magnetic stripes on the back of payment cards. The company said the problem has been fixed.

"Our customers can continue using credit and debit cards at our stores," said chairman and CEO Scott Schnuck in a written statement. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers, and we thank each of them for their patience while we worked hard to investigate their concerns."

On March 15, the chain learned some customers had noticed unauthorized charges for credit cards they used at Schnucks. In some cases, transactions reached thousands of dollars. Authorities said many of the unauthorized charges were at out-of-state big-box stores.

While the source of the fraud was under investigation, Schnucks encouraged shoppers to pay with cash or checks.

Schnuck Markets' CEO said the company is cooperating with law enforcement, the Missouri Attorney General's Office and credit card companies to "determine the scope and magnitude of this crime and apprehend those individuals making fraudulent purchases."

The Schnucks store in Cape Girardeau apparently was not affected. General manager Dennis Marchi told the Southeast Missourian on Thursday that he had not heard of any reports of similar fraud at this store.

Schnuck Markets operates 100 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Southeast Missourian staff writer Shay Alderman contributed to this report.