Stop picking on TJX!

Today BusinessWeek reported that police in Miami had arrested and charged 6 people with stealing credit card information from TJX and using that information to steal $1,000,000 in merchandise by purchasing gift cards and using them in various stores around Florida.

(insert tongue firmly in cheek)

With bad guys this stupid, what do we have to worry about? 

I mean, really … what moron would try to purchase a $24,000 gift card? Well, these morons apparently did exactly that. If you’re smart enough to break into a computer information system remotely and steal thousands of credit card numbers, surely you can’t be so stupid as to walk into a Wal-Mart and try to buy $16,000 and $24,000 gift cards. Then again, one can never overestimate the stupidity of people.

Seriously, though, this smells like the real thieves sold the stolen information on the open market (at Morons-R-Us, perhaps) to a group of less mentally-gifted thieves. But there is clearly an element of organized crime here — some smart and some dumb, but definitely organized.

With my tongue now removed from my cheek, let me reiterate what I see as a growing concern for business — organized, targeted attacks at specific companies who are known (or discovered) to be vulnerable. TJX is just one company on a growing list.  Get your houses in order little piggies… here comes The Big Bad Wolf!!