Online shop targeted by scam

Customers of an online department store have been targeted by cyber thugs who apparently hacked their way into its' ordering data. File photo / Thinkstock

Online shoppers have been warned to be wary when handing out personal details after customers were targeted by cyber thugs who apparently hacked their way into a company's ordering data.

A customer of online department store Stoffels told NZPA he had ordered an item on Friday and promptly received a confirmation email, including an order number and description of the item ordered.

But on Sunday he received another email, claiming to be from the online store, saying Stoffels was unable to process his order due to invalid or missing card information and asking him to email them these.

The client was concerned and emailed back, asking the sender to provide his order details, because he didn't want to hand over his credit card details without them telling him what he ordered and or quoting an order number.

Shortly after he received an answer with his order, including the exact order number he had been given by the company on Friday.

Luckily he ignored the request for his details and contacted the company directly.

Today he received an email from Stoffels, informing him of a bogus email going round asking clients for their credit card details and advising them to not reply to the email

The customer said it was disturbing that the scammers knew what he ordered, and the order number and was concerned for the safety of his credit card details.

Stoffels manager Angeline Ruger told NZPA the company was aware of the scam and was investigating how the scammers had got hold of the ordering information but said that customer's credit card information was safe.

She said she had no reports that any of the company's customers had been adversely affected and the company was sending out emails alerting clients of the bogus email.

Ms Ruger said she couldn't give more details at the moment, as circumstances of the data breach were still under investigation.

Ministry of Consumer Affairs spokesman Alastair Stewart said the ministry wasn't aware of this particular scam but warned online-shoppers to always be wary when giving out personal details like their address or credit card numbers.

"If you receive an email or phone call requesting personal details, be careful, no matter how genuine it sounds. We recommend that you do not respond and instead contact the organisation directly to confirm the situation," he said.

- NZPA