Target’s Troubles Continue: Unidentified Number Of Gift Cards Not Activated

Target (TGT), one of the largest retailers in the country, is left red-faced again as an unidentified number of gift cards purchased as holiday gifts were not activated properly. Oops!

A couple of weeks after one of the largest security breaches affected around 40 million Target shoppers, the big box retailer is once again apologizing to its customers who were not able to use gift cards while shopping at the stores or online.

It is unclear exactly how many gift cards are affected, but Minneapolis local TV station KSMP is reporting up to 40,000 cards could be involved in the latest embarrassment for the company.

In an email statement, Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said the numbers are much lower than those being reported in the media:

“Numbers that have been reported in the media are much higher than what we experienced as the actual number of cards impacted was less than 0.1% of the total sold during the holiday period.”

However, without knowing what the total number of cards sold during the holiday period, the number remains up for grabs. Target has not volunteered that information yet.

Snyder added:

“We are aware that some Target gift cards were not fully activated and apologize for the inconvenience.”

“Target will honor the impacted cards. If a guest discovers that their gift card has not been activated, they can bring it to the guest service desk at their local Target store or call 1-800-544-2943 for assistance.”

Target has not had a good couple of weeks, after it was discovered that their point of sales was hacked by criminals and millions of customers’ private information was likely stolen between November 27 and December 15.

The company has offered free credit report access for those shoppers who used their credit cards at the stores during the period of time the breach occurred.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the breach included encrypted Personal Identification Numbers (PIN), among other secure information.

The attack — which is currently under investigation by the US Justice Department and Secret Service — has been described as a “sophisticated” operation, although no updates have been made public yet.

Target has 1,921 locations across the US and Canada, and its headquarters are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.