Q: I received an email from the target of a few days ago explaining that my information was compromised. How do I know that this email is legitimate and not a thief trying to get more information from me
A: This is an excellent question. Unfortunately, some identity thieves send e-mails with links to bogus virus or malicious Web sites to the victims of theft of personal information in attempts to gather even more personal information. Fortunately, there are some ways that you can verify that the email you received is really the retail giant. It is essential that you not to open the email until you are positive that it is the target .
How to check if the email is legitimate
1. Make sure it was sent by TargetNews@target.bfi0.com: Target made a mistake confusion when he sent his emails because he did not send it from an email address ending in target.com - make people guess the legitimacy of the email. If the email you received is not the email address above, then you should not open the mail and instead of marking as spam.
2. Check the subject of the email: The legitimate e-mail the company a subject that reads "Important message from Target to our customers." If the email you received was not this, then you should not open the email and instead mark as spam.
3. Read the email on the website of the target: Once you've confirmed the email you received matches all the criteria above on it, you can open and read. Or, if you are still unsure about the legitimacy, you can read the message online at Target.com.
?What should I do if I received this email
Target sent you this email because there's a chance that your personal information - name, email address, phone number, postal address or even credit card information - was compromised in the breach. As a precaution, the company offers its customers a free one-year subscription to protection against identity theft ProtectMyID. Although the offer from Target is generous, the protection service against identity theft itself is not the best service for you because, quite simply, it might not help you detect possible identity theft .
For example, the protection offered through target only monitors and provides an Experian credit report. The problem with reports of a desktop is that different types of credit, such as credit cards or loans, are reported to some offices and only monitor a desk, you do your other credit reports - Equifax and TransUnion - vulnerable to new lines of credit that the thief could open in your name. And whereas ProtectMyID only monitors a desk, these new credit lines can not be detected until it is too late. That is why it is essential to use a protection service against identity theft that monitors all three credit bureaus and not just Experian.
Another example of how ProtectMyID falls short in terms of protection is the ID scan. Unlike most other identity theft protection services, ProtectMyID does not offer Internet monitoring the black market, followed by the address or public folder monitoring. These features are important to detect changes to your address or public documents, and verify that your information is not sold to identity thieves -. Which is why most other identity theft protection services include these features
If you really want your information is protected and violated every possible theft is detected, then you should consider signing up for a complete service for the protection against identity theft. Most of these services offer three desktop monitoring credit report over the Internet monitoring the black market, followed by the address and public records monitoring. And all the best identity theft protection services also offer some kind of free trial, which means that you can test the service before making any financial commitment. Visit our protection against identity theft compare table to learn more about each service and find the best service for your needs.