PITTSBURGH — Churchill resident Joni Zytnick woke up one morning to find all the money for her child’s education gone in a flash.
“Thousands and thousands of dollars,” she said. “Not only were there no funds, but it was overdrawn.”
Most of that money was on an EPPIcard, a card used by the state to help parents manage child support payments.
Zytnick said even this card is vulnerable to hackers.
According to the Identity Resource Center, as of July there have been 395 data breaches in the U.S. this year, a 21 percent increase from 2013.
Zytnick believes her card was hacked in the Home Depot breach that put 56 million credit and debit cards at risk.
She said the thieves, “completely depleted my account in two days.”
In 48 hours, criminals withdrew thousands of dollars off her EPPIcard at an ATM in London, even changing her password.
Security experts say once your card is hacked, criminals buy that information off the hackers.
"The dark market is where this stuff is bought and sold, and then there are the people who buy it and take the chance that they can turn your stolen credit card data into money," said Stephen Cobb, a senior security researcher at ESET.
Channel 11 learned EPPIcard’s fraud division is managed by Xerox which told us their “fraud prevention team is monitoring all activity around the clock…within the program guidelines and applicable law and regulations.”
Eventually, Zytnick received some good news.
The total amount of money was refunded back on her card.
EPPIcard recently posted on its website that in light of the Home Depot breach, it would be issuing new cards as a precaution.
Financial experts suggest checking your account statements regularly and consider ordering a yearly credit check.
Report any suspicious activity to your financial institution immediately.
WPXI
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