Target Refused To Process Fraud Claim Unless Customer Gave Up Sensitive Info
BOSTON (CBS) – How comfortable would you feel giving Target all your sensitive information right now? Michael Baxter, of Somerville, has an answer: “I have no confidence in their security there.”
Baxter and his wife got a call Wednesday. “They identified themselves as the Target fraud detection department, and there was a suspicious transaction of over $1200,” said Baxter. They called the number on their statement and confirmed it was true. They are among as many as 110 million customers affected by Target’s pre-holiday credit card breach.
But what happened next made Baxter feel like a victim all over again. Target sent him a questionnaire to fill out and return to process his claim. It asks for sensitive information like Social Security Number, driver’s license number, address, phone numbers, credit card number, children’s names, and more. “It’s enough information to completely destroy our identities,” said Baxter.
“I was kind of horrified. I kind of thought it was a scam when I looked at the form, because of the kind of information they were asking. I told them they were insane to be asking for it,” he said. When he refused, the customer service representative told him they could not process his claim without it. “I wasn’t getting anywhere, so I asked for a manager. That took four or five minutes. The supervisor came on the line and she was even more aggressive with it.”
