MILL CREEK, Wash. — More than one million customers may have been affected.
Customers KIRO 7 ran into leaving the Mill Creek Staples store Sunday morning hadn't heard about a massive breach at 115 of the office supply giant's locations, including the one in Mill Creek -- the only store impacted in Washington.
When KIRO 7 told them, they were concerned.
"It's disturbing to find out your finances could be at risk,” said John Aiello.
Shoppers were not, however, surprised.
"No, it seems like it happens all the time,” said Adam Griffith.
According to the Theft Resource Center in 2014, nationwide there have been more than 600 security breaches that resulted in nearly 80 million records exposed.
According to Staples, in this particular breach thieves used malware to get personal customer information including card numbers, expiration dates, and card verification codes.
We wanted to know how these identity thefts affect retailers.
It’s been a year since more than 40 million customer cards were compromised at Target, and while initially data suggested fewer people said they would shop there, the numbers have since bounced back.
The same goes for Home Depot where just this past September as many as 56 million customers were compromised.
"I don't really have any way to evaluate which stores are more at risk than others,” Griffith explained.
At the Mill Creek Staples, customers like him told us they'd be back.
"I assume they will be tightening their security now so they'll probably be safer than other stores,” said Griffith.
Staples says customers don't need to cancel their cards -- yet.
If you believe your information was compromised, make sure to check your account statements and immediately report any suspicious activity to your credit card company.
KIRO
