Arrests made in Stop & Shop data theft

Computerworld - Police in Rhode Island have arrested four people in connection with a recent security breach at Stop & Shop Supermarket Cos.

The Monday night arrests followed a complaint by employees at a Coventry, R.I., Stop & Shop store of suspicious activity involving four individuals near its cash registers.

"These arrests stem from an ongoing investigation of the recent theft of credit and debit card account data through illegal tampering of Stop & Shop's electronic card transaction pin pad units," the company said in a statement today. "We are hopeful that these arrests will bring those responsible for these crimes to justice."

The Associated Press identified the four men as Arutyun Shatarevyan, Mikael Stepanian, Gevork Baltadjian and Arman Ter-Esayan, all in their 20s. They were scheduled to be arraigned today in Kent County District Court on charges of computer theft and fraud.

Quincy, Mass.-based retailer Stop & Shop earlier this month said that PIN pads -- the devices customers use to swipe credit and debit cards to pay for purchases -- had been tampered with at six of the company's stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The electronic funds transfer (EFT) devices had been removed from their supporting brackets, opened up, modified and then reinstalled.

As a result of the tampering, account and PIN numbers associated with some credit and debit cards were stolen in early February, the company said.

Following the incident, Stop & Shop installed "heavy duty silver bolts" on thousands of EFT terminals in all the company's stores to make it more difficult for thieves to remove the devices from their support brackets.

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