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CANADIAN CREDIT card companies are telling card holders to monitor all financial transactions following a security breach in the U.S. that could affect up to 240,000 Canadian Visa card holders. "We are still trying to determine the cards that have the potential of being compromised," Visa Canada spokesman Mei Velasquez said yesterday. "But if anyone sees anything unusual, they should contact their financial institution immediately." MasterCard International Inc. announced Friday that the banks and account numbers of up to 40 million credit card holders may have been accessed by an unauthorized user. The security breach was traced to Atlanta-based CardSystems Solutions Inc., which processes credit card and other payments for banks and merchants. The incident appears to be the largest yet involving financial data in security breaches affecting consumer data at major financial institutions and data brokers. Velasquez said Visa Canada and its financial institutions are closely monitoring accounts possibly affected by the scandal to ensure further fraudulent activity doesn't occur. Most of the nearly 14 million MasterCard users affected by the scandal are American, said Jennifer Reed, vice-president of public affairs for MasterCard Canada. "Ninety percent are U.S.-based card holders and the other 10% are internationally based, but I do not have the specific figure for Canada," she said. |