Last year Target finally told its customers that their credit card data was stolen. It's possibly the largest data breach in history, except for the one that the govt performs on its own people daily.
According to the Orlando business Journal 110 million people had their data stolen before they fessed up on January 10th. That's even cards for every home in America!
13% of those surveyed said they'd never shop there again while the rest said they would or would think twice about it. There's a very good chance that one of you were a victim of this. So what's the next step if you were?
What should you do regardless of whether you know somebody is doing something malicious or not? Here are the steps to follow...
1. Cancel the credit card
2. Annualcreditreport.com - go to this website and view your annual reports. This allows for you to see if any credit card or other credit account have been opened in your name that you don't know about. It's free!
3. Credit freeze - Call all three credit reporting agencies or visit the websites (experian/equifax /transunion).
4. Identity stolen? Call the police (but NOT 911). This is not an emergency, but you do need to show that your identity was stolen, so filing a police report is the best way to show your creditors and the credit agencies that you're serious. Cops hate doing this, so you should go directly to the police station to report it. Cops want to be catching murderers, not filling out paperwork.
According to the Orlando business Journal 110 million people had their data stolen before they fessed up on January 10th. That's even cards for every home in America!
13% of those surveyed said they'd never shop there again while the rest said they would or would think twice about it. There's a very good chance that one of you were a victim of this. So what's the next step if you were?
What should you do regardless of whether you know somebody is doing something malicious or not? Here are the steps to follow...
1. Cancel the credit card
2. Annualcreditreport.com - go to this website and view your annual reports. This allows for you to see if any credit card or other credit account have been opened in your name that you don't know about. It's free!
3. Credit freeze - Call all three credit reporting agencies or visit the websites (experian/equifax /transunion).
4. Identity stolen? Call the police (but NOT 911). This is not an emergency, but you do need to show that your identity was stolen, so filing a police report is the best way to show your creditors and the credit agencies that you're serious. Cops hate doing this, so you should go directly to the police station to report it. Cops want to be catching murderers, not filling out paperwork.
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