The Dalton office of the FBI is handling the investigation for the method in which the numerous accounts were breached, according to Walker County sheriff Steve Wilson.
Victims of the fraud are urged to report the incident to their bank immediately and also to local law enforcement.
“We are still assessing the situation trying to identify a common theme,” said Jeff Kovach, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Northwest Georgia Bank, on Friday. “We do not have any definitive information on what banks are affected.
Northwest Georgia Bank is just one of a number of banks locally with some customers whose debit/credit cards were compromised.
The fraud affects a “very small portion” of the Northwest Georgia Bank customer base, Kovach said.
As of Friday evening, the Walker County 911 center has taken theft reports from between 50 and 100 people. Several others have also called the LaFayette Police Department.
“We believe at this point and time that individual cards were compromised,” Kovach said.
Several local banks are working together to isolate where and how the fraud started, along with exactly how many cards have been affected, he said.
“Typically what happens is the information is compromised through a merchant somehow,” Kovach said. “Either their process is compromised, or there is a compromise taking place at the initial source of activity, but we don’t want to get into speculating or guessing.”
“We don’t believe (the problem) is a bank or card-issuing source,” Kovach said.
Kovach said the initial emphasis is taking care of customers by issuing new cards, followed by “trying to identify what happened and why.”
“The customers are not held liable (for unauthorized transactions). Typically the banks end up paying most of the costs,” Kovach said.
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