The Better Business Bureau of Upstate New York is advising people who have used a credit or debit card at Home Depot to make sure they carefully check their card statements.
That is after the news this week that the home improvement retailer may have had a major credit card data breach. Although that has not been confirmed yet, Peg Penders, a spokesperson at the Better Business Bureau, says they've already been getting a lot of calls from consumers.
"We have been getting inquiries from consumers all over Upstate NY regarding this particular data breach, although we don't know the details and it is a possible data breach at this point, just being reported without actual information regarding the dates involved."
Penders also says watch out for emails from people trying to take advantage of publicity about the possible breach.
"Scammers really love to follow these headlines and there could be some other activity that will follow it that often comes in the form of phishing through your email claiming that you've been affected by this data breach, and you don't want to click on any of those links."
Penders says when you are making a major purchase at a retailer, a lot of times it's safer to use a credit rather than a debit card, since using a debit card means the money would be taken out of your bank account right away, and if there's a data breach, it could be more complicated to get that money back.
Hackers have broken security walls for many retailers in recent months, including a well-publicized breach involving Target.
