The Sally Beauty chain confirmed Thursday that it has suffered its second data breach in just over two years.
The beauty products seller notified customers earlier this month that it was investigating reports of unusual activity on payment cards used at some of its U.S. locations.
Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. would not talk about the scope of the illegal intrusion Thursday because the investigation is ongoing. Its shares have fallen almost 5 percent in the past month.
"We are working diligently to address the issue and to care for any customers who may have been affected by the incident," CEO Chris Brickman said in a printed statement. “Our customers are our top priority and we regret any frustration or inconvenience this illegal breach may cause them. I want to thank them for their patience and support as we continue to work hard to correct this issue,” said Mr. Brickman.
The Denton company said customers won't be responsible for fraudulent charges that are promptly reported.
Consumers with concerns about their payment cards can email customerserviceinquiry@sallybeauty.com or call a customer service hotline at 866-234-9442.
Sally Beauty had a security breach in March 2014 that affected the credit and debit card accounts of thousands of customers. The company offered one free year of credit monitoring and identity-theft protection to customers who may have been affected by that incident.
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Sally Beauty sells and distributes products through 4,900 stores, including about 200 franchised units, in the U.S., the U.K., Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Peru, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ireland, Spain and Germany.
A number of retailers have been hit in recent years by damaging data breaches, most notably Target Corp., when some 40 million debit and credit cards were compromised.
Starbucks is also getting headlines because of potential problems with its app, but the company insists only individual customers have been impacted and the app itself has not been hacked. Consumers can use the app to pay for products.
They do this by connecting the app to a credit card or bank account number.
here's also an auto-load function which allows the app to refill a certain amount once the money in the app goes down to zero.
Some customers are complaining that crooks have been able to get into their accounts, spend the balance and then keep reloading it.
Starbucks says the problem is not widespread. It's urging customers to create tough passwords and to change them regularly.
You may also want to turn off the "auto-load" function if you have the Starbucks app.
Customers should monitor all their credit cards and bank accounts for unusual activity and alert their bank immediately if there are issues.
Starbucks wants to hear from customers who notice odd activity on their Starbucks Card or app. Call the company's customers service line at 1-800-STARBUC.
There has been a push by consumer rights groups and others for retailers to upgrade their security. Banks and credit card issuers are already moving in that direction.
On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase said that it will replace all of its customers' debit cards with more secure chip-based cards nationwide and it expects to have chips on 70 percent of its debit cards by the end of 2015.
