A breaking story this Friday afternoon that’s receiving little to no attention anywhere in major media. Retailers from coast to coast, and some internationally in North America, are experiencing a major credit/debit card outage among Visa and Mastercard customers. Reports indicate locally in northern Virginia that the backbone network, run by Chase Bank, is experiencing issues.
From firsthand experience, a local grocery chain in Virginia and Maryland says all their stores are affected according to store management. Reports also indicate that Starbucks and Lowes home improvement stores are also affected.
There is little to no press coverage but mountains of anecdotal evidence on Twitter.
Here are some updates from Twitter users reporting the outage:
ShopRite, a grocery chain, confirmed the outage minutes ago:
Another user remarked how credit card processors have been knocked offline nationwide and yet there is zero coverage in any major media outlets:
And this Tweet from over two hours ago:
This is a developing story. More information as it becomes available…
Update
More information from Twitter since there is nowhere else even providing updates on this issue. Is this some kind of hack or technical glitch? No one of authority has said a word:
The issue seems to be affecting credit and debit cards:
More to come…
Update
Users in multiple states are reporting outages:
Again, no media has taken the time to report on the issue but consumers are finding it impossible to purchase anything at many major retailers from New York to California with a debit or credit card.
As a result, ATM machines are being hit up for cash in the meantime.
Rose Rambles... 