Hackers looking to creep into bank accounts and steal money from PayPal accounts have discovered a back door through the Starbucks App and gift card scheme.
Starbucks consumers who use the coffee company's official app are slowly discovering that their finances are being targeted through connected bank, debit and PayPal accounts
The Starbucks App allows consumers to pay for items over the counter with a phone, however as users are finding out therein lies the problem.
With only a password to keep hackers away from accessing private bank account details, once a Starbucks App account has been hacked, hackers create a gift card at the owner's expense and transfer funds to themselves as if a gift were being sent.
In addition, hackers leave a calling card of sorts by sending hacked account owners numerous emails with messages along the lines of "Your gift made someone's day."
The unfolding reports about the hacked Starbucks App have revealed that across the United States and Canada customers have reported losses worth hundreds of dollars in a matter of seconds.
The Canadian arm of the coffee giant acknowledged the issue and told CTV News that while it accepted that there was an issue it denied that the App had been hacked blaming poor password choices by consumers.
The coffee company went on to say that fraudulent activity was constantly being monitored through inbuilt safeguards.
Cyber-crime commentator and consumer advocate Bob Sullivan first broke the story, CNN Money reported.
Sullivan claimed that the "auto-reload" ability of the Starbucks App was partially susceptible to hackers, allowing thieves to steal hundreds of dollars from linked credit card accounts in a few minutes.
Disgruntled consumers speaking to the news channel claimed that such incidents made them come to the conclusions that Starbucks did not have enough inbuilt security measures that would seek approval from customers before directly accessing bank accounts.
Many Starbucks App users further said they had begun disabling the App.