40 million Target customers at risk after security breach

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Consumer and fraud experts say thousands of people who used credit and debit cards at Target stores since Thanksgiving are part of a major security breach at the popular store.

Hackers managed to access account information of as many as 40 million Target customers nationwide. 

"They should have some kind of security on there (s0) that that doesn't happen," said Susan Barnhart outside the Target store in Midtown Charlotte.

Target issued a statement saying that trying to find out who compromised customer information is the company's top priority, but much of the immediate burden will fall on customers.

Hackers were able to access customers' names, account numbers, expiration dates and security codes for all credit and debit cards used at Target stores between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15.

"If you shopped at Target and used credit cards, no matter what kind of credit cards, debit cards, you are at risk.  Your data has been compromised," said Tom Bartholomy at the Better Business Bureau.

Bartholomy said the hackers are almost certainly planning to use the stolen information to create duplicate cards that will be used around the world.

What's worse, Bartholomy says there's no telling how long customers will remain vulnerable. 

"(Hackers) probably have a plan to roll these out over time.  So if my data was compromised last week, they might not get around to it for another year," Bartholomy said.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said customers concerned about whether their information was stolen should now check their credit card accounts on a regular basis and consider asking credit agencies to put a fraud alert on their credit reports. 

"This is good for 90 days and gives you notification when someone is using your credit card or using any of your personal information," Cooper said.

Customers whose information was stolen should expect to be contacted by Target or the credit card company. 

North Carolina law requires companies to notify customers in the event their information is compromised in a security breach.

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WSOC