Here’s some useful advice from a member of the Park Slope Parents message board regarding the recent credit card/debit card fraud that had been rampaging through Park Slope. Some on the message board thought to post the names of merchants in PS, who may be responsible for credit card fraud. Obviously PSP is rejecting posts with merchant names as there is no evidence that specific merchants are at fault. Nor is this problem limited to Park Slope.

Since the PSP board is rejecting posts with the names(s) of
merchants they believe have been resposnsible for CC fraud. Its
worrisome to know that this is happening and that I have no way of
even trying to protect myself despite the fact that others are
willing to share their information.”

If you’re concerned, I’d suggest emailing directly the people who’ve
said they might have ideas as to which stores might put your credit
info at risk; their email addresses are included in their posts. Note
that I didn’t say these merchants are “responsible”–because as an
earlier poster made clear, it’s entirely possible or likely that the
merchants have been hacked without their knowledge, and are no more
responsible for the situation than their customers.

Absent any hard proof beyond speculation, I’m sure you can appreciate
how unfair it would be to announce to some 7,000 people in the area
that Merchant X is not to be trusted; it could easily be a death
sentence for a small business that has done nothing wrong–and may
have been identified mistakenly in the first place.

In the meantime, there is plenty you can do to protect yourself. Only
use bank ATMs. Pay only with credit cards, not debit cards–or,
ideally, use cash instead. Put a freeze on your credit report, as has
been explained earlier. And keep in mind that, as one of the
fastest-growing areas of crime, credit card fraud and identity theft
are a much bigger problem than a single breach in a single store;
these are all measures we should be taking anyway, regardless of the
current suspicions.

This credit card fraud thread has a lot of people spooked, myself
included! But it would be a terrible thing if, in our eagerness to
play detective, we ended up victimizing one of the local merchants
who make PS such a special place.