Claim: Target is offering free credit monitoring service to customers who may have been affected by its credit card security breach.
Example: [Collected via Facebook, January 2014]
I received an email about Target offering free credit monitoring services to customers because "criminals forced their way into our systems and took guest information." Is this real?
Origins: Shoppers' confidence in the Target chain of retail stores was shaken when the company announced in late 2013 a credit card security breach which occurred during the 2013 holiday shopping season had compromised about
Naturally, given the recent news about Target's credit card security woes — and that the "free credit monitoring" messages were sent with return addresses outside the target.com domain (TargetNews@target.bfi0.com) and were mailed even to customers who hadn't shopped at Target during the period in which the security breach occurred — many recipients were suspicious of those messages and believed they might be part of the same (or another) scheme to compromise credit card numbers. However, although Target perhaps could have found a better way of notifying customers about its offer, company representatives have confirmed the free credit monitoring messages are legitimate and were indeed sent by Target:
Target says the email, which offers free credit monitoring services to potential victims of the breach, is legitimate. [But] when Target's email began circulating, many recipients questioned its authenticity. The email was especially suspicious to people who say they haven't set foot in a Target store in years. According to Target, hackers stole data related to Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder says it's those Snyder confirmed that the information gathered for the free service won't be used for marketing purposes. While shoppers are being offered the option of continuing the monitoring service after a year, they won't be automatically
An email sent to the roughly 70 million Target customers who may have been affected by a
Last updated: 19 January 2014
 | Sources: |
Fowler, Bree. "Shoppers Fret About Authenticity of Target Emails." The Seattle Times. 19 January 2014.
