Ways you can avoid credit card fraud

Susan, a concerned Broward reader, has a query about a recent tip. I recently noted thatTarget is offering free credit monitoring and identity theft protection for one year to all of its customers. That’s due to hackers stealing credit and debit card information of millions ofTarget customers.

To register, go toCreditmonitoring. target. com beforeApril 23, 2014, says Target. com.

Susan said that she doesn’t have a computer and neither do her friends. She wonders: Howcan they protect against this fraud? Also, are theTarget thieves stealing customers’ identities or instead zeroing in on fraudulently using credit card numbers?

“I already hadmy ID stolen about three years ago,” she says. “I hate the possibility of going through it again.”

Answer: If you used only credit cards atTarget ( not debit cards), “I don’t think you have that much to worry about,” says Linda Sherry, of the nonprofit ConsumerAction. By law, any unauthorized use of your credit cards makes you liable for no more than $ 50 of a charge. TargetCEO Gregg Steinhafel assured on CNBCthat all customers have “zero liability.”

If you used a debit card, Steinhafel’s assurancewould still apply. But Sherry suggests this: If your debit card is linked to your savings account, call your bank to unlink it. Link it instead to a checking account—“and I’d keep not much money in the checking account,” or ask for a new debit card number. Meanwhile, check your bank statements closely; if you happen to see fraudulent charges, tell your bank within 60 days so youwon’t be liable.

If youwant to get copies of your credit report to check for trouble, you can still do it for free. Call 877322- 8228. You can get one free report annually from each of the three big credit reporting companies— Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Instead of asking for all three right now, you might get one now ( say, fromExperian), then another next month and the last one another month.

The Milwaukee JournalSentinel reports there’s a second route to get free credit reports: Customers of Target who can’t access the Internet can call to talk to a customer service representative at 866- 852- 8680 and ask for a personal activation code to sign up forTarget’s free year of credit monitoring service throughExperian.