Target has admitted Thursday morning that over 40 million accounts of debit and credit card holders were hacked, with the incident taking place between November 27 and December 15.
The retail store says that it is currently working closely with the Secret Service in order to find out who is behind this massive theft, which has already left customers angry.
According to an interview with USA Today, the Secret Service confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation that involved stealing customers' personal credit card information. Spokesman Brian Leary shares, "The Secret Service will confirm it is investigating the incident at Target. We don't have any further comment because it's an ongoing investigation."
The Target scam involved the magnetic strip on the back of each card, which could have started from illegal software installed in a company's computer. The incident was first reported by KrebsOnSecurity.com, a computer security expert website.
Authorities say that what is most important is for the breach to be addressed swiftly in order to make all victims aware that there personal information has been stolen and thieves are attempting to use their debit or credit card to make their own purchases.
According tot the Daily Mail, 23-year old Christopher Browning believes that he is one of the fraud victims of Target, after shopping during the Black Friday holiday sale in the store. Two attempts were made: First is in a casino for $8,000 in Tracey, California. The other is in Pacheco for $3,000. Both attempts were denied. While there is still no proof that his case is directly linked to the recent Target scam, Browning firmly believes that it is connected.
Mike Donovan, Global Focus Group Leader for Beazley Breach Response states that breaches happen all the time and the Target scam is just one of the many theft cases happening in the country. "Any company that handles personal data is vulnerable," Donovan stated.
The Target scam did not affect online transactions but have since allowed criminals to create counterfeit credit cards based on the personal information stolen as well as intercept pin numbers to withdraw from the ATM.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
