Card breach linked to national company

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A local security breach with credit and debit cards has been linked to a national company.

Lafayette Police detective B.T. Brown said the security issue affected the Camilles Sidewalk Cafe restaurants in the area. But Brown said the breach was strictly through Camilles' parent company, Beautiful Brands International.

"They [local Camilles franchises] had no knowledge of the breach until they were contacted by their corporate office," he said. "These people were affected from California clear across the United States to New York."

The people affected were customers at Camilles Sidewalk Cafe restaurants, including some in Tippecanoe County. But Brown said it's a national issue that's out of the hands of local law enforcement.

"The information that is sent to the financial institutions is being forwarded to the Secret Service," he said.

"We are working with Visa and Mastercard and the United States Secret Service to stop that breach and prosecute the people responsible," said Robert Sartin, the attorney for Beautiful Brands International.

Sartin said the credit and debit card breach has likely affected fewer than 20 stores across the country. He said the issue has not been linked to any employees or owners of Camilles restaurants, or any employees at Beautiful Brands.

"We believe, based on the evidence we've seen so far, that computer hackers have infiltrated the credit card processing system," Sartin said. "And we believe that we'll be able to stop that in the future."

Sartin said the company hopes to contain the problem nationally within a couple of weeks. He said the investigation into who's behind the crimes will be complete shortly after that happens.

Detective Brown said as far as eating at Camilles restaurants here in Tippecanoe County, local customers shouldn't be concerned about using their credit and debit cards.

He said the security breach has affected about five local financial institutions to the scale of more than $100,000, but he hasn't seen a local debit or credit card complaint for several weeks.