A new article by ConsumerAffairs.com claims that the Citibank investigation into thousands of stolen debit cards and PINs centers on two 3rd party retailers.

They name…Office Depot (not Office Max, as we heard) and…

Come on, wait for it… your favoritest company in the whole world… oh yes, here it is, here it comes…….

WAL-MART! Wheee! Blog yourself outta of that one, sucka!

A Computerworld article sent in by reader Georgia (thanks!),says the offender may be Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart. We learn that Visa, in response to a letter sent by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) in February, concerned over retailer intrusions, said, “Accusing a single source of the compromise before the investigation is complete could be inaccurate and unfair… Similarly, disclosing the name of the compromised entity would become a powerful disincentive for the compromised entity to share time-sensitive information with Visa.”

Computerworld’s source who works for a company aiding the lawmen following the fraud says most evidence suggests that a point-of-sale (POS) system at a California OfficeMax is involved.

OfficeMax has flatly denied these allegations, leading one analyst to posit the source is a third-party transaction processor.

Questions remain. Who are the retailers responsible? Why are the credit agencies hiding their identities? And, why isn’t this being reported in the mainstream media? The WSJ was said to be doing an article but it’s failed to surface as of yet.

Many, many things about this are not adding. These companies mutual masturbation doesn’t help assuage our concerns.

If you or someone you know is a customer of Citibank, Bank of America Corp. Wells Fargo Bank, or Washington Mutual and that bank forcibly reissued you a new debit card, let us know at tips@consumerist.com.

Previously:

• The Office Hax ‘Guarantee’
• ATM Fraud Update
• Alert! Citibank Scandal Update: It’s Not Just Citibank…
• Citibank’s Statement on the ATM Crisis
• Citibank
  s ATM Crisis Merely Extends
  Money Don
  t Matter
  Campaign

• Massive Citibank Alert: UPDATE
• Massive Citibank Fraud Alert: UPDATE
• Massive Citibank Fraud Alert

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