Garner family victims of Target security breach

With three daughters, the evening meal allows the married couple to really know how the girls’ day went.

But the Garner family is now wondering how they will pay for groceries.

After dinner at a restaurant Saturday night, the family realized their bank account had a zero balance.

There were mysterious charges throughout the day, all from stores in New York.

“Somebody got our number somehow, and at that point we didn’t know exactly how they got it,” Fairchild said.

After speaking with their credit card company, it turned out they were victims of the nationwide Target security breach.

They made a $12 purchase at a Target in Garner on Dec. 2.

The security breach affected 40 million credit and debit card accounts across the country, resulting in the theft of personal information, including email addresses and names, of as many as 70 million customers. The breach affected customers who swiped their cards at a Target between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15.

Target says an estimated 1.2 million North Carolina card users might have had their credit and debit card accounts exposed.

“How do you continue living, buying groceries, getting gas, paying bills,” King said.

Customers will not be responsible for fraudulent charges, Target said. The state attorney general’s office recommends customers to continually check their credit and debit accounts as well as their credit reports.

They also should watch out for social media requests looking for their personal information.

Target is also offering one year of free credit monitoring for those impacted.

King and Fairchild were told by their bank they should not expect some of their money to start being reimbursed until the end of the month at the earliest.

For them, that’s not soon enough.

“Target, really, in our opinion, they have a responsibility to us,” Fairchild said.