Four Years to Uncover Scam

Mar 31, 01:38 AM

Current Headlines: By JEFF EDWARDS

THE TK Maxx fraud began in 2002 but only surfaced at Christmas when detectives in America broke an organised crime gang.

Six people have appeared in court in Florida charged with stealing pounds 4million of goods on cards created from records stolen from TK Maxx and parent company TJX.

British customers were informed about the possible theft of their details by TJX under tight American security laws.

But, according to data expert Jamie Cowper, a British firm would have been under no legal obligation to tell customers about the breach.

He said: "There really needs to be new legislation to make sure people are informed in situations like this."

He added that the scam could damage the credit card business.

Files stolen from Watford covered 45million credit and debit card transactions between December 31, 2002 and November 23, 2003. Files covering November 24, 2003 to June 28, 2004 were also stolen but the company says it has not yet been able to discover exactly what details were on them.

In America, TJX say their security was first breached in July 2005 and continued unnoticed for 18 months until it was discovered just before Christmas.

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