Target suffered a major credit card breach starting around Black Friday affecting in-store purchases. The Secret Service is investigating the theft of magnetic-stripe card data. Shoppers should check statements frequently and report any unauthorized charges.
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This is WCVB NewsCenter 5 at 11. Major security breach hitting Target customers tonight.
Your personal information may be in the wrong hands. Here's what we know right now. Hackers may have swiped information from millions of Target shoppers nationwide, and it started around Black Friday, the busiest shopping time of the year. NewsCenter 5's Kelly Tuthill is live in Revere with what shoppers need to know. Kelly?
Well, Ed and JC, if you've shopped at Target in the last couple of weeks, experts say check your credit card statements often. Some even suggest checking daily on your mobile device. If you see anything unauthorized, report it immediately. The Secret Service is investigating a credit card data breach at Target. It started around Black Friday and potentially affects millions of shoppers' credit and debit card records.
When you use your credit card on Black Friday, there's a chance that the scammers got access to your card number because it went through, say, this virus that copied and pasted all that data.
The breach focused on customers in stores rather than online. The thieves reportedly gained access to data on credit cards' magnetic strips, potentially allowing them to make counterfeit cards.
They're striking when, you know, everybody's most vulnerable. Everybody's rushing around, so busy, everything like that. Very frustrating because you don't have a choice.
You got to buy stuff, especially this time of year. You got to buy stuff. In 2006, TJX Companies, which runs TJ Maxx and Marshalls, had one of the worst security breaches ever when hackers gained access to some 94 million accounts.
The bad guys know that they can max out those cards in a matter of minutes, so you have to pay very close attention to your statements and refute unauthorized charges within 2 billing cycles. I recommend checking your statements weekly. Even if you have an app on your mobile, do it daily.
So far, Target has had no comment about this situation. Live in Revere, Kelly Tadhill, WCBB NewsCenter 5.
