Up To 20 Mass. Banks Affected By Data Breach

Up to 20 Massachusetts banks have been dealing with fraud stemming from a breach at Michaels arts and crafts stores.

The affected customers tend to be clients of North and South Shore Banks. That’s probably because the Texas-based company says five Michaels stores in those areas were part of the nation-wide data breach. But Bruce Spitzer of the Massachusetts Bankers Association says any Michaels customer should be concerned.

"There were transactions going on that were fraudulent at some of the stores that originally were not on Michaels list of problematic locations. That’s worrisome, frankly," Spitzer said.

Michaels says the data breach affects debit card purchases from February to May.