January 14, 2014
Nevadans Should Be Aware of Potential Scams Related to Breach
Las Vegas, NV – Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto encourages victims of Target Corporation’s consumer data breach to sign up for its sponsored free credit monitoring services and continue to regularly monitor their credit or debit card statements for unauthorized activity.
“My office is participating in a multi-state inquiry to investigate this matter,” said Masto. “It is troubling to learn how many people have had their personal data stolen. This is simply not acceptable. Consumers should continue to stay informed and monitor their credit or debit card activity to protect themselves.”
During the holiday season, Target announced a data breach impacting approximately 40 million consumers who shopped at their U.S. retail stores and used a credit card or debit card between November 27 and December 15, 2013. Compromised data included customer name, credit or debit card number, the card’s expiration date, CVV information (but not the three digit CVV2 codes on the back of cards), and encrypted PIN numbers.
However, Target recently confirmed that the names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and/or email addresses for up to 70 million of their customers were also compromised. This could have affected consumers who provided such contact information to Target, even if they did not make purchases at Target stores with a credit or debit card between November 27 and December 15, 2013. Given contact information was compromised, consumers may become targets for telemarketing fraud, phishing, and other types of scams.
Tips for Target shoppers:
Interested shoppers should sign up for Target-sponsored free credit monitoring services at creditmonitoring.target.com by April 23, 2014. See Target’s frequently asked questions to learn more about the credit monitoring. Consumer protection tips for Target shoppers are available in an earlier press release from the AG’s office. Target shoppers should be wary of email scams asking to click on links.
This case is being handled by Brian Armstrong, Senior Deputy Attorney General and Lucas Tucker, Senior Deputy Attorney General with the AG’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
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