Almost a month after a security breach was recognized and fixed at a
local bookstore near East Carolina University, unauthorized charges
are still posting to some students' accounts. One student says that's
a problem because he's temporarily losing financial aid money.
Andrew Boyd says he bought his books from University Book Exchange in
early January and says on Sunday, he noticed three unauthorized
charges for about $200 on his ECU Higher One card, which he used to
buy his books with.
Higher One distributes financial aid monies to students at East
Carolina and many other universities across the country. Students can
receive the money through a Higher One debit card, or they can choose
to receive a paper check or have the money deposited into a separate
checking account. Boyd says his financial aid money was on his Higher
One card, which was compromised during UBE's security breach. He says
he's contacted Higher One, and was told it could take up to 90 days to
get his money back - a problem because he lives off his financial aid
money.
"I use that money to pay off bills- cell phone, food and stuff - it
kind of puts me at a pretty hard place for paying all that stuff
back," said Boyd.
WITN also talked with ECU's financial aid director Julie Poorman, who
said once financial aid money is distributed, it's not really
considered financial aid anymore - and having it stolen is like having
a computer or other property stolen.
Poorman says if your card has been compromised, you should file a
police report, and says ECU may be able to do a budget adjustment to
help students get more financial aid if they're struggling- although
getting more aid is not guaranteed. UBE says the security breach has
been fixed. It says it's added new security software and is
implementing other security measures in the store as well, but didn't
want to announce what those were.
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