Target To Offer Free Credit Monitoring

If you or anyone you know has ever shopped at Target, you may be eligible for free credit monitoring for a full year.

That announcement came today from State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman after Target stores admitted more than 70 million customers' information was leaked online in December.

After the breach, Target agreed to Schneiderman's demand to provide free credit monitoring and identity theft protection to potential victims.

Beginning today any Target customer can register for credit monitoring and identity theft protection through Experian's ProtectMyID service.

"Now that Target agreed to our request to offer free credit monitoring, I strongly encourage any New Yorker who has ever shopped at Target to take advantage of Target's offer," Schneiderman said. "Data breaches like this can make consumers vulnerable to identity theft and other crimes that can have devastating effects on their financial security. I strongly encourage other retailers that have seen large-scale data breaches to offer free credit monitoring to their customers as well. In the meantime, I will continue to work with my colleagues in other Attorneys General offices to investigate, so we can make sure that New Yorkers can shop without fear of their personal data being stolen."

If you are looking to take advantage of this program, Target has provided the following information:

• Consumers who shopped at Target in the U.S. may request an activation code by entering their name and email address at Target's credit monitoring website before April, 23, 2014.
• You will then receive an email from Target within one to five days that will include the unique activation code and instructions on how to register the code with ProtectMyID.
• Consumers will have until April, 30, 2014 to register their code.
• Emails collected during the process of creating activation codes will be used only for the purpose of sending an activation code to enroll in free credit monitoring.

Anyone who has more questions can visit Target's website or call 1-866-852-8680.