Wendy’s Investigates Possible Credit Card Breach

Recent happenings at America’s third-largest burger chain are not very tasty.

Yesterday (Jan. 27), Krebs on Security — having heard from banking industry sources that a pattern of fraud had been discovered on cards that were all recently used at various Wendy’s locations — reported that it has received confirmation from the fast food restaurant that an investigation of a possible breach is underway.

“We have received this month from our payment industry contacts reports of unusual activity involving payment cards at some of our restaurant locations,” Wendy’s spokesman Bob Bertini told the outlet at that time. “Reports indicate that fraudulent charges may have occurred elsewhere after the cards were legitimately used at some of our restaurants. We’ve hired a cybersecurity firm and launched a comprehensive and active investigation that’s underway to try to determine the facts.”

“We began investigating immediately, and the period of time we’re looking at the incidents is late last year,” Bertini continued. “We know it’s [affecting] some restaurants, but it’s not appropriate just yet to speculate on anything in terms of scope.”

The Wendy’s spokesman did not share with either Krebs on Security or Bloomberg (to which Bertini also confirmed the investigation) how many of the chain’s 5,700 U.S. locations may have been impacted. Krebs on Security attests to have heard from its banking industry sources that the possible Wendy’s breach affected locations in the midwestern United States, as well as some on the East Coast.

Meanwhile, the Bloomberg story adds that the potential hacking incident comes on the heels of an otherwise positive period for Wendy’s, which in November reported a same-store sales increase of 3.1 percent at its North American locations in Q3.