Starbucks: the cyber thief's fav

[DJofSD]

http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/13/technology/hackers-starbucks-app/

Hackers are draining bank accounts via the Starbucks app

Starbucks (SBUX) on Wednesday acknowledged that criminals have been breaking into individual customer rewards accounts.

The Starbucks app lets you pay at checkout with your phone. It can also reload Starbucks gift cards by automatically drawing funds from your bank account, credit card or PayPal.

That's how criminals are siphoning money away from victims. They break into a victim's Starbucks account online, add a new gift card, transfer funds over -- and repeat the process every time the original card reloads.

[johnhannibalsmith]

I'm torn on this one. If you are using cards/apps/accounts in general - much less those tied to an account that means something to you - in order to buy a cup of coffee...

[Stillriledup]

I'm torn on this one. If you are using cards/apps/accounts in general - much less those tied to an account that means something to you - in order to buy a cup of coffee...

No doubt. Its easier just to head to the bank once in a while, extract some cash, and use the cash to pay for things while keeping the card safe and sound.

[Clocker]

Its easier just to head to the bank once in a while, extract some cash, and use the cash to pay for things while keeping the card safe and sound.

That requires thinking ahead farther than the next 10 minutes. :rolleyes:

[ThinkingAlways]

To be clear here, it doesn't (currently) appear that Starbucks has been hacked. Rather consumers that use the same password at multiple sites are being impacted if their password was stolen from another site. Thieves are then using the stolen credentials to see if the consumer also has a Starbucks account leveraging the same password.

[DJofSD]

Yes, the report I initially read and posted turned out to be just so much misreporting by a reporter that either did not have the correct facts or didn't understand them to begin with.

Here's a more current article written by a well respected authority: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/05/starbucks-hacked-no-but-you-might-be/