Goodwill: KY Stores Not Part of Possible Breach

Nonprofit organization Goodwill Industries Inc. is working with federal officials to investigate a possible security breach, but the company says local shoppers shouldn't worry.

The Maryland-based organization said it was contacted Friday by a payment card industry fraud investigative unit and federal authorities who said payment card numbers may have been stolen from some U.S. stores. Goodwill said it is working with credit card makers, the Secret Service and fraud investigators to figure out if a breach occurred, but so far none has been discovered.

Goodwill operates more than 2,900 stores and takes in annual retail sales of $3.79 billion. It sells donated merchandise to fund job programs.

Since the company's stores are operated by about 165 regional headquarters around the country, there is no centralized database of all of its customers' credit card information.

Goodwill Industries of Kentucky issued a statement Wednesday, saying they immediately reviewed their own card processing system, and determined that the payment-card system used at the 63 Kentucky stores is secure, and is not among those in question.

The statement added that Goodwill Industries of Kentucky does not have the equipment or capacity to store customers’ payment card information, and any card information is encrypted as it passes from Goodwill to the third-party payment-card processor. Based on that knowledge, the organzation is confident that its customers have not been touched by this possible breach.