Attention Target Shoppers: Special on Credit Card Fraud at the Checkout Counter

That bulls-eye logo has never been more appropriate.  Target shoppers have been targeted…by criminals intent on emptying their bank accounts and racking up gigantic bills on their credit cards.

If you shopped at a Target store anywhere in the United States during the 19 day period beginning the day before Thanksgiving, you’ll want to check your bank and credit card statements very carefully.  The chain announced that the data of over 40 million shoppers who paid with a debit card or a credit card during that time may have been compromised.

Target said the breach might have compromised accounts between November 27 and December 15, a period of nearly three weeks.

On Thursday, Target told customers in an alert on its website that the criminals had stolen customer names, payment card numbers, expiration dates and their CVV security codes.

“On December 15, we were able to identify an unauthorized access and we were able at that time to resolve the issue,” Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said by telephone.

Krebs on Security, a closely watched security industry blog that broke the news on Wednesday, said the breach involved nearly all of Target’s 1,797 stores in the United States and investigators believed the data was obtained via software installed on point-of-sales terminals used to swipe magnetic strips on payment cards.

It is not yet clear how the attackers were able to compromise point-of-sales terminals at so many Target stores. “It is very clear it is a sophisticated crime,” Snyder said. (source)

There is no word yet on suspects in this grand scale attack.

In a season where people are known to rack up bills with reckless abandon, some of the theft could go unnoticed unless they carefully scrutinize the details of their statements. This breach is yet another great reason to shop with cash.