Mr. Gullible says "Think before you leap."

Think before you leap or link.

On this sunny day in Rancho Mirage California, I have a confession to make. Deep within my skeptical brain lives a fundamentally gullible person. I must be because I responded to the recent notorious Target email blast, sent to a reported 70 million consumers, that purported to offer me an opportunity to protect my credit by providing Target or an associated company with even more personal information about myself than they already have. What was I thinking?

My wife received the email. She is the retail shopper in our family. She sent the email to me because she was afraid to click on the link for fear it was a scam. She thinks before she links. I received the forwarded email and immediately clicked on the link and began filling out forms that asked for more personal information, which I gleefully provided, because I, in my naiveté, believed I was going to get a free credit report. I found out later you need to pay for the credit report, it is not free, but that was after I provided a history of where I lived and my social security number.

Of course I regretted this misplaced nugget of trust. Even I know that "free" is code for "hey stupid, of course it is not free, any idiot knows that, but if we honestly told you how much it is actually going to cost, then you would not click on the link."

As a result, I was not surprised to wake up this morning and read several news editorials that many smarter, less gullible, consumers than me, were afraid to click on the email link that Target provided. How stupid can I be to provide additional personal information to a company that failed to provide protection for my previous personal information. Invade me once, my mistake. Invade me twice, my bigger mistake.

Target is proving that the old adage that "all press is good press" is an ad-man myth. With the recent email blast, Target is digging the trust hole deeper, rather than climbing out.There is a lesson down there for all of us. You know what it is.

Webtalkwithbob@gmail.com