A Canadian woman found the best Black Friday deal for an iPad at Target, a newcomer on the Great White Northern retail scene. She didn’t just get a tablet and a $115 Target gift card, but a bonus too: contact information and photographs belonging to another customer. Or so she thought.

The information trail led to a woman in California, and there was a “demonstration” label on the box.”If I were her I would be pretty upset,” the customer told CTV.

Except perceptive folks over at TUAW noticed that those pictures, e-mails, and calendar items don’t belong to some random lady in California: they belong to some fictional lady in California. All of the information is pre-loaded for floor models to show would an iPad looks like once you load it with your photos and contacts.

Of course, when you switch on an iPad and it’s full of someone else’s info, that would normally be a bad thing. This is why you should erase the hard drive when you return any tablet, computer, or phone. Ithe wrong hands, this kind of information can be very dangerous. Being a police officer, the Canadian woman who bought it knows something about security and identity theft.

“The privacy of our guests is of paramount importance and this is the first time we have heard of this type of event,” Target said in a statement to CTV. “We are investigating it with our partners at Apple and are happy to keep you posted as we learn more.”

Cambridge woman buys ‘new’ iPad full of contacts, photos [CTV]

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