Police: Suspect Not Linked to Target Breach

The Georgetown Police Department in Texas has withdrawn its allegation that a man arrested for fraud also may have been involved in the Target Corp. data breach last December that compromised 40 million credit and debit card details and the personal information on 70 million customers.

See Also: 57 Tips to Secure Your Organization

On May 7, Austin, Texas, television station KVUE-TV and USA Today cited an arrest affidavit that named Guo Xing Chen as the suspect. "It is ... believed Chen is involved in a large scale credit breach believed to be in excess of $70 million according to investigators from the Target Corp.," according to USA Today.

But in a subsequent press statement provided to Information Security Media Group, the Georgetown Police Department backed down from that initial allegation.

"While it was initially suspected that Guo Xing Chen's activities could have somehow been connected to the larger Target credit breach, at this time there is no indication where he obtained the fraudulent card information," the police department now says. "It is not believed he was responsible for the initiation of the breach at Target."

Chen reportedly was arrested by police after they were called to a Target store in Georgetown, Texas, following a report that a man had used a stolen credit or debit card to purchase gift cards. Reports state that there was an outstanding arrest warrant for Chen from Arkansas involving fraudulent use or possession of identifying information.

Chen reportedly was charged with two felony crimes: credit card or debit card abuse, and fraudulent use or possession of identifying information.