NEW YORK - The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a suspected theft of customers’ credit-card and debit-card data at Target Corp., the second largest discount chain.
Brian Leary, a spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington, confirmed that the agency is probing the matter while declining any further comment because the investigation is underway.
Target was the victim of an extensive theft of its customers’ card data over the Black Friday weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The theft was across the country, not online, and may have involved interference with the machines customers use to swipe their cards, the newspaper said.
A message left after hours with an operator at Minneapolis-based Target’s media hotline wasn’t immediately returned.
The breach may have affected about 40,000 card devices at store registers, meaning that millions of cardholders could be vulnerable, the Journal said, citing the people familiar with the case.
Target has 1,797 stores in the U.S. and 124 in Canada.
By intercepting point-of sale data, the thieves can create counterfeit cards. If they are able to intercept the PIN information, as well, thieves might also be able to withdraw money from a customer’s account through an ATM.
A similar breach affected Barnes & Noble stores last year. In that case, customers at 63 Barnes & Noble stores across the country, including in New York City, San Diego, Miami and Chicago, were affected.
Information for this article was contributed by The New York Times.
Business, Pages 27 on 12/19/2013