Did stores hush up credit card scam?

when this begin-b3nNot all retailers told their customers when hackers swiped more than 40 million credit card numbers in the biggest such heist ever

Most states mandate that companies tell their customers when their credit card data is stolen from stores. The laws are designed to give consumers a chance to protect themselves against fraud or identity theft.

But when federal prosecutors disclosed last week that computer hackers had swiped more than 40 million credit card numbers from nine retailers in the biggest such heist ever, it was the first time that many shoppers had heard about it.

That's because only four of the chains clearly alerted their customers to the breaches. Two others, Boston Market and Forever 21, say they never told customers because they never confirmed data had been stolen from them.