Answer Desk: Are you in the clear if you replace cards used at Target?

Are you in the clear if you’re getting your credit or debit cards replaced?

Not according to Adam Levin, chairman and co-founder of Credit.com. He thinks one type of scam is “going to come back with a vengeance.”

It’s called a piggybacking attack because it follows an earlier security breach. In one version of the scam, victims got calls from criminals pretending to be from their bank or credit card company.

The imposters rattled off the personal information they had — and then asked the customer to provide one more detail they needed, such as a credit card’s security code.

“A lot of people felt, golly, this is the security department of my bank,” Levin says. “It wasn’t.”

He says to be safe, politely hang up and call the company back using the phone number on the back of your card.


What if I can’t get through to Target to ask about my RedCard?

Some calls to Target’s toll-free number result in an automated message: “We’re sorry, we cannot continue processing your call. Please hang up.” Other customers complain of long periods on hold, so you may just have to be persistent.

On it’s Facebook page, Target said, “We are experiencing significantly higher volume than normal to our call centers and RedCard website, causing delays.” But they say, “We are working hard to resolve this issue by adding team member support and system capacity as quickly as possible.”

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