Target CEO Speaks Out After Data Breach - East Idaho News
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Target CEO Speaks Out After Data Breach

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TARGET?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1387583322554Target(NEW YORK) — Target’s CEO is reaching out to customers following a data breach in which customers’ personal and financial information was stolen by cyber hackers.

On Thursday, Target posted a notice to customers acknowledging that data connected to about 40 million credit and debit card accounts was stolen as part of a breach that began over Thanksgiving weekend.

On Friday, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel said a 10% discount will be extended to all shoppers in U.S. stores on Saturday and Sunday.

Steinhafel said in a statement: “We take this crime seriously. It was a crime against Target, our team members, and most importantly, our guests.”

The company says they will spend the weekend notifying customers who were impacted.

But whether the discount and free credit card monitoring service will ease the nerves of Target shoppers who have already been victims of credit card fraud is yet to be seen.

ABC News has learned that credit card numbers stolen from the recent data breach at Target are now hitting the black market in the form of fake credit cards.

Missy Thompson of Tennessee believed her card was part of the huge breach when she noticed unusual activity on her card.

“I was thinking, I didn’t go to Walgreens. I would never spend 250 dollars in Walgreens so, that got my attention,” Thompson told ABC News Radio.

Matt Ferrante, a former secret service agent said once stolen credit cards are harvested, they’re “dispersed all over the world and usually distributed through on-line organized crime.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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