Customers of Retailer ‘Target’ Hit by Fake Emails

Target, the well-known North American retailer, is asking for forgiveness from all its patrons for an extensive security breach of its data by offering discounts to all. But, some of the notifications patrons received on Saturday, December, 20, 2013, could have been part of a phishing email scam, reported minnesota.cbslocal.com on December 21, 2013.

The bogus emails purporting to be from Target tell the recipient that it (Target) wants to inform him about unlawful access to it (Target's) payment card data. This illegal access may affect those who made purchases at its outlets between November 27, 2013 to December 15, 2013.

The victim is told that his trust is of top priority for the retailer (Target) and therefore, it apologizes the inconvenience that this breach may cause. The confidentiality and security of details of its guests is an issue of seriousness and it (Target) has solved the incident promptly. Target says that it began probing the issue as soon as it learnt about it. The details involved in the unfortunate breach include client's name, number of credit or debit card, and expiration date of card along with CVV number.

Target says that "very few" reports of fraud have been reported till now. But, the Internaut who first reported the incident says that thieves are flooding the black market with stolen information.

Around 40 million credit and debit card numbers of Target's shoppers have been embezzled since Thanksgiving.

The breach reportedly affected almost all outlets of Target in U.S.

Gregg Steinhafel, CEO of Target, sent a letter stating that patrons won't be held accountable for falsified charges, as reported by Minnesota.cbslocal.com on December 21, 2013.

Experts classify the ill-fated breach as a trend which has become ordinary: a major happening that gathers the attention of people and the scammers swoop in to trick the public."

Ed Barrett, VP of Marketing and Channel Sales, Digital Security Firm SecurityCoverage, said that it's not shocking that there was a fake email right after the breach, as reported by marketwatch.com on December 20, 2013. Lots of these online crooks are smart and realize that when public is troubled, you have their concentration and they shall do what you ask.

» SPAMfighter News - 12/30/2013