Attention, thrifty shoppers -- financial institutions across the country are tracking what could be a series of credit card breaches involving Goodwill customer data pulled from various store locations. Goodwill made an announcement regarding their partnership with the US Secret Service to further investigate likely points of compromise leading to the breach.
Goodwill is based out of Rockville, Maryland with 165 independent locations in the United States and Canada as well as having a presence in 14 other countries. The organization sells donated clothing and household items, using proceeds to fund job training programs and employment placement services along with other various community-based initiatives.
Goodwill first learned of their possible data breach incident on Friday, July 18th but has yet to confirm details. Financial industry sources said their evidence indicates that the breach may have originated in the mid-2013 timeframe.
It still remains unclear how many Goodwill stores have been impacted, though sources claim fraud patterns have been traced back to at least 21 states including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Loiusiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
