Target stores' customers hit by major credit card attack

Target stores' customers hit by major credit card attack

Bad news being confirmed by the Secret Service about reports of massive breach of credit card information at Target stores nationwide.

Be very aware of your credit activity as this could go viral.

This has happened before with stores and banks and they just can't seem to stop the problems.

Very alarming. Be extra careful with all of your transactions everywhere.

(Reuters) - Payment card data was stolen from an unknown number of Target Corp customers starting on the busy Black Friday weekend in a major breach at the U.S. retailer, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Secret Service is investigating, according to a spokesman for the agency, which safeguards the nation's payment systems. Target officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Investigators believe the data was obtained via software installed on machines that customers use to swipe magnetic strips on their cards when paying for merchandise at Target stores, according to the person who was not authorized to discuss the matter and declined to provide further details.

Target stores' customers hit by major credit card attack


These continuing "incidents" make me wonder if the big credit "monitoring" services are behind some of the mania

I'm beginning to wonder if it doesn't go deeper than we're being told.
I live in little Podunk,Idaho and my debit card numbers/pin were hacked.
I wasn't the only one; MANY of the surrounding towns, big and small, had the same problem.
It started happening just before thanksgiving, with hundreds of people having their card info hijacked, and not a word was mentioned on the news, or in any of the papers.
An acquaintance said her son's was hacked in Spokane at a major grocery store...around Thanksgiving.
Maybe the NSA info got hacked...lol

nugget1
I'm beginning to wonder if it doesn't go deeper than we're being told.
I live in little Podunk,Idaho and my debit card numbers/pin were hacked.
I wasn't the only one; MANY of the surrounding towns, big and small, had the same problem.
It started happening just before thanksgiving, with hundreds of people having their card info hijacked, and not a word was mentioned on the news, or in any of the papers.
An acquaintance said her son's was hacked in Spokane at a major grocery store...around Thanksgiving.
Maybe the NSA info got hacked...lol

Sorry to hear you were victimized like millions more.

I bet they suppressed these incidents as not to disturb the shopping season.

xuenchen
Target stores' customers hit by major credit card attack

Bad news being confirmed by the Secret Service about reports of massive breach of credit card information at Target stores nationwide.

Be very aware of your credit activity as this could go viral.

This has happened before with stores and banks and they just can't seem to stop the problems.

Very alarming. Be extra careful with all of your transactions everywhere.

(Reuters) - Payment card data was stolen from an unknown number of Target Corp customers starting on the busy Black Friday weekend in a major breach at the U.S. retailer, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Secret Service is investigating, according to a spokesman for the agency, which safeguards the nation's payment systems. Target officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Investigators believe the data was obtained via software installed on machines that customers use to swipe magnetic strips on their cards when paying for merchandise at Target stores, according to the person who was not authorized to discuss the matter and declined to provide further details.

Target stores' customers hit by major credit card attack


These continuing "incidents" make me wonder if the big credit "monitoring" services are behind some of the mania

It's Debit Cards as well.

reply to post by BABYBULL24


All of the cards in my surrounding area WERE debit cards- traced back to MAJOR stores.
It makes sense that officials wouldn't want the theft reports getting out just before the Christmas season began.
Maybe we'll learn more after the 'after Christmas' sales are over.
"Fraud Alert" on my account didn't authorize the sale....they wanted my confirmation first. I guess they thought Lowe's in Illinois was too far away for me to be shopping at. Hehe

reply to post by xuenchen


This is becoming more common here in the US, as another poster pointed out it is not being given the attention because the financial institutions don't want people to stop trusting the plastic. These one occur in smaller areas though and most require a device to skim the data which must be collected later....this sounds like someone hacked the software for the card machines Target uses.....seems like it would have to be someone with access to the devices before they were installed.

Great security, Target!!! If you purchase goods at a store like Target, Wal-Mart, etc. they should guarantee your card safety... Now say some hacking dbag runs up a BUNCH of charges at others stores because Target doesn't know how to secure your information, is that your issue or theirs??? They should be the ones dealing with the headache, not you the consumer...

Curious, does anyone know if companies like Target can be held liable for any fraud, charges, misuse of information, etc???

reply to post by nugget1


I'm wondering the same thing about NSA hacking (or NSA's own employees) - if it's as secure as the Obamacare website, we all need to worry about more than our phone calls and emails being recorded.

Surely they have our credit information as well.

Happened to a lot of people (me included) in my area post- sandy - when we freely gave our info to FEMA?!?!

I'm not sure if this is related to the Target breach or not but, my brother called me yesterday and said he needed to borrow some money because his account was overdrawn.

Apparently some guy from Rochester, NY stole his account info and used it to sign up for Christian Mingle.com! LOL!

Really?

That's certainly not very Christian like behavior now is it?

When he first asked to borrow the money I just held my breath waiting to hear his newest excuse (he is a habitual borrower of money).

When he finished the story, I knew even he wasn't creative enough to make it up so, of course I helped him out.

Apparently some guy from Rochester, NY stole his account info and used it to sign up for Christian Mingle.com!

As per the credit card slogan, that is priceless. I have seen their ads, nothing about being a GOOD christian is required to join.

What's really scary as well is that Target has one of the biggest/baddest Asset Protection/Security platforms in all of retail. LEOs sometimes use their resources.

Anyways, this story reminds me of that ring of young guys out of FL who were running a worldwide stolen credit card ring by sitting in retail parking lots and hacking into the computer systems of dozens of major retailers, one of which was Target, if I recall. I bet this is similar, just with hacking Target's main data base instead.

One of the guys hacking for that big ring eventually helped the Secret Service as part of a plea I think.

I guess the only solution is to pay everything with cash.

I bank with Bank of America (which I am changing), and I have been issued yet another debit card for the third time this year due to "possible" financial information leaks. I received two robo calls informing me of the situation. My business bank however, a local bank, called me on two occasions personally when I used my card for a out of country and out of state purchase.

I tried to write a check about a week ago at a major retail store and the transaction was declined. Now, I have not written a check in years, I always use my debit card. I have great credit and plenty of money in the account. I was kind of embarrassed. I called the credit company and was put through to an automated response message. Turns out my activity was out of ordinary spending method patterns, so to prevent fraud, they just declined the check. They did offer for me to sign up for their VIP customer program so this would not happen again, though. Sheesh. I just won't write a check again.

Urgh, just what I need to worry about right now. I am broke as it is with Christmas coming up. I admit I shop at the Tarchez quite a bit. Hey, it's like wal-mart for classy folks.

reply to post by xuenchen


Everytime I think about getting a credit card (I haven't had a credit since '88) stories like this pop up and I breathe a sigh of relief.

As they say. Cash is King. Though it is a hard road to travel. But it can be done.

Oh crap. I buy from Target often. The groceries there are less expensive.
Jeeeze ... I'll have to check this out. Thanks for the info.

(**rabble rabble .. walks away mumbling and grumbling .. UGH!)

Can't pay by check. it is by design, which you saw.

Banks make money off people using plastic. All other means of payment will be suppressed by them. The credit companies are just there to help the game. Plastic is a giant racket.

reply to post by roadgravel


You can still pay by check at Target.