People who used Coin Cloud cryptocurrency ATMs installed in some H-E-B stores in 2021 may have had their personal information compromised by hackers. The San Antonio grocer said the machines in its stores weren’t involved in the breach.
A cybersecurity collective called “vx-underground” said hackers netted the personal data of 300,000 customers across the U.S. and Brazil, and 70,000 pictures of customers taken on cameras in the ATMs. Crypto ATMs are kiosks where people insert cash to buy various types of the unregulated digital currency such as Bitcoin and others. Kiosk operators charge users varying interest rates, sometimes up to 26%, for the service.
Coin Cloud maintained thousands of such machines until it filed for bankruptcy in February. Another operator, Genesis Coin, acquired 5,700 of Coin Cloud’s ATMs but that company was subsequently sold. The Coin Cloud machines that were installed in H-E-B stores are now owned and operated by Margo Network, the companies said.
When Coin Cloud announced it was installing machines at H-E-B two years ago, the grocer said the program would begin with 29 stores in the Houston area. H-E-B spokesman Valentino Lucio declined to say how many of the machines were ultimately installed or where they were. Margo is the third-party vendor that leases space for the machines.
“Our vendor has assured us that the machines in H-E-B did not run the software that was alleged to be hacked,” Lucio said. He referred further questions to Margo, which also declined to provide information on numbers and locations of the machines in H-E-B stores.
Bitcoin ATM is the current owner of the Coin Cloud assets, according to TechCrunch. Andrew Barnard, Bitcoin ATM’s CEO, described the breach “a mystery”, and said the firm began an investigation, but so far hasn’t determined when it happened or who was responsible.
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