Stop & Shop Warns Consumers About Telephone Scam Artists

QUINCY, Mass. -- As a follow-up to its announcement last week that five of its Rhode Island stores and a Massachusetts store had experienced a security breach involving payment terminals, Stop & Shop here posted a consumer alert on its website regarding scam artists posing as Stop & Shop officials. The chain warned consumers not to give out personal information to anyone on the phone claiming to be from Stop & Shop or other institutions. "Scam artists can easily obtain confidential information, such as Social Security numbers or banking and credit information by calling consumers, posing as Stop & Shop, bank or credit employees," the company said. "These scam artists may ask the consumer to give the caller their personal information to 'verify' whether the consumer is an identity theft victim." Stop & Shop does not call individuals asking them to verify confidential information over the phone, the company said.