Lawsuit filed against Michaels store for debit card skimming

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV)- Thousands of Michaels craft store customers have been targeted by debit card skimmers who wiped out their bank accounts this week. Since we first brought you the news that Michaels customers across the Valley were getting ripped off by thieves, many more have come forward outraged to find out they too are victims.

Many of you had much to say on our Facebook page after we ran this story here on Action News. Many of you are contacting your banks, checking to see if you have fallen victim to these thieves, and assessing the damage. But now, as more victims come out, one woman is taking legal action and pointing a finger at the store.

Michaels, one of the country's largest art's and craft's store's, is in the middle of an investigation of how debit machines in 20 states across the country could get tampered with.

"They actually tried to take out $500 and they got that out," says Kanani Tangitau.

This Las Vegas resident was notified of unusual activity on her card when Bank of America saw a second attempt at someone trying to pull a large amount of money from her account.

"How did it make you feel to know that somebody had access to your account. They just went in and took whatever money they wanted from you," asks Action News.

"It's pretty scary especially when I found out it was on my ATM, debit card," responds Tangitau.

Joining thousands others in the Las Vegas Valley this victim learned the breach into her checking account could be connected to three Michaels stores in our area.

Recently, a class action lawsuit was filed in Illinois by one woman who claims Michaels was negligent in protecting customer information and in alerting them of the breach in a timely manner.

"Definitely step up their security system and make sure it never happens again, because this could definitely stop me in the future if it happens again from going there again," says Tangitau.

We reached out to Michaels for a comment about the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Northern Illinois and the senior vice president at the company says:
"We do not discuss the specifics of pending litigation.  However, as it has been widely reported, Michaels acted quickly and aggressively to alert consumers nationwide of the problem and to secure its stores.  We continue to work with banks and law enforcement to aid in the investigation."