Credit card info breach reaches 28 million yen

Damage caused by the illegal use of Japanese credit card information linked to a huge case of data theft in the United States has reached nearly 28 million yen, industry officials said Tuesday.

It was the first time a specific damage value has been cited since the U.S. data breach was announced Friday.

Information on some 39,000 MasterCard-linked credit card holders and at least 27,000 Visa-linked card holders in Japan has been leaked for possible fraud, industry sources and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

UCS Co., an affiliate of supermarket chain Uny Co., said five MasterCard-linked cards it issued were illegally used between January and March, running up bills of about 400,000 yen, the officials said.

UFJ Card Co. reported 26 cases of abuse totaling 5.2 million yen. Another credit card firm affiliated with a regional bank reported a single case involving 190,000 yen. Pocket Card Co. confirmed 1 million yen in damages from about 10 cases.

Other credit card firms are still investigating, but the damage is likely to rise once Visa International Service reports on its own probe.