By John Burton
TRENTON – New Jersey Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman is encouraging state residents who shop at Target department stores to take advantage of the one-year free credit monitoring the retail chain is offering in light of its large scale security data breach announced in December.
Target is offering credit-monitoring service, not only to those customers whose personal information may have been compromised, but also to all of its customers, according to a statement released today by the Office of the Attorney General.
Beginning this week, customers can register for the service at creditmonitoring.target.com. Experian’s ProtectMyID is the company that will be providing the monitoring. The service will provide a copy of a credit report; daily credit monitoring; identity theft insurance, where permitted by law; and access to personalized assistance from a fraud resolution agent.
Customers have until April 23 to apply for the service and will receive an activation code when they send an email to creditmonitoring.target.com. Customers will then receive an email within one to five days, with instructions on how to register and what information is required.
Consumers with questions can visit target.com/databreach, or contact Target directly at 866-852-8680.
Hoffman is advising Target customers who have not already done so, to change their personal identification number (PIN) and passwords as a protective measure.
The state Division of Consumer Affairs issued a consumer alert on Dec. 31 about the Target database breach, with information on what the public can do to protect themselves against possible identity theft. That alert can be found at www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/alert/12312013alert.pdf.
