As of May 13th, 2015 customers of Starbucks that have paid with the Starbucks app have reported that their personal bank accounts have been hacked. While getting a customer’s personal information through an app is not a new scam by any means, this Starbucks app problem has been widespread over only a few hours. All different banks with different customers have reported this financial scam, and Starbucks is working to figure out the bug in the system that allows the hackers to gain access to the app.
What the hackers do is they get into the Starbucks app and find the credit card that you have attached to the app. Through this method, the hacker can access your entire bank account and all of your personal information.
Being hacked can be extremely frightening, but you may not need to worry. There is a simple method of protecting yourself and your bank account that will keep hackers away. On your Starbucks app, there is an auto-reload feature that may be defaulted to active. In order to protect your account you must turn this auto-reload feature off. This will not allow the hackers to get into your Starbucks app and retain your personal information.
One may say that this cannot be that big of a deal, because it is only an app; however, Starbucks reported that one in every six customers paid for his or her Starbucks purchase by the mobile app. That means that every day ten people could be hacked, and you could be one of them if you use this Starbucks app. It is not to say that you should delete your app and never have Starbucks again. This app can work well and get you your coffee. You just need to be smart about how you use it.
This scam where hackers get into an app is not just with Starbucks. Any app that has in-app purchases or connects a credit card to it could be hacked. Because of this, one should always set the auto-reload switch to off and be careful about the apps that you are putting your credit card information on. In this digital age, these apps are extremely useful for our busy lives, but we need to remain cognizant of our financial security as well. From Starbucks to Angry Birds your bank account is at risk, even through the layers of security that these places claim that they have. Unfortunately, the hackers seem to be getting better and better. Are you prepared for them?