Credit Cards of 118,000 Visitors to Oregon Zoo Could Be Compromised

Warnings have been sent to 77,000 Oregonians, alerting them to the possibility that their credit card information could have been stolen when visiting the Oregon Zoo. The security infringement took place over six months, from December 2023 to June 2024, and affects 23,000 Washington residents.

The Maine Attorney General’s office posted the data breach last week, saying that 118,000 people who visited the Oregon Zoo during the six months could have had their credit card information compromised.

Suspicions Aroused by Repeated Failures of Ticket Sales

Officials from Oregon Zoo said they became suspicious when the ticketing site operated by a third-party vendor repeatedly reported failed transactions.

An immediate investigation was launched and took a month before Oregon Zoo realized that the credit card information of thousands of visitors could have been stolen.

According to Hova Najarian, a spokesperson for the Oregon Zoo, the investigation revealed that an unauthorized person had redirected credit card transactions from the third-party online ticket purchasing vendor, potentially stealing information of thousands of people who visited the zoo.

Federal Law Enforcement Has Been Notified

After notifying federal law enforcement about the credit card infringements, the zoo decommissioned its ticketing site while constructing a new one.

Najarian says no complaints from visitors about credit card transaction thefts have been received, and that Oregon Zoo was still calculating its financial losses from online ticket sales during the weeks its ticket sales service was not working.

He confirmed that potential victims have been notified and that Oregon Zoo has offered them free credit card monitoring for one year.