When debit or credit card details are exposed in a data breach

If you’ve been the victim of a data breach and your debit or credit card details are exposed, you have rights. You may be eligible to make a claim for compensation, and we may be able to help you.

A number of the group and multi-party actions that we’re fighting for justice in involve payment card information being compromised. It can lead to significant distress or the victim, as well the clear risk of fraud and theft. We’re often in the media as a ‘go-to’ name for journalists when it comes to serious data breach events and people’s rights, so this is an issue we frequently talk about.

Criminals targeting payment data is a serious and widespread problem. Victims can access the justice that they deserve, and we are here to help.

Compensation if your debit or credit card details are exposed

You can be entitled to make a claim for data breach compensation where your debit or credit card details are exposed. There are usually two key factors that we can look at when you make a claim of this nature, which are:

• General Damages for the distress caused by the loss of control of your personal information; and
• Special Damages for any losses or expenses incurred.

If you fall victim to a crime of theft or fraud as a result of the exposure of your payment card information, you could be entitled to recover any money lost. However, even if you didn’t lose any money, or where a refund has been issued by a bank or a company, you may still be able to claim.

You can also be entitled to receive compensation for the distress suffered by the loss of control of your personal data, and this can be significant. It’s not nice to think that someone out there with malicious intentions has control of your data, and you can claim for the distress that this causes. You can read more about data breach compensation amounts, valuations and pay-outs on our advice page here.

A serious and widespread problem

Security researchers are on the lookout for exposed and unsecure information all the time, and they can frequently identify incidents where debit or credit card details are exposed. They’re also on the lookout for software like malware that may be secretly installed on retail websites and may be scraping payment card data when transactions are being processed.

The media recently reported that a security researcher claimed to have identified over 1,000 domains that were infected with skimming software. This software is understood to perhaps be the same one used in the British Airways and Ticketmaster data breaches, and these are two group actions we’re involved with. We launched legal action for victims of the Ticketmaster incident in July 2018, and we’re on the Steering Committee for the BA Action, which is the first GDPR Group Litigation Order (GLO) in England and Wales.

For some of the group action compensation cases we’re involved with, it was  a security researcher that discovered the breach. One of the most recent examples is the Virgin Media data breach where data that had been left exposed for over 10 months was found by an independent researcher.

Free, no-obligation advice today

When debit or credit card details are exposed in a data breach like this, the victims can be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

For free, no-obligation advice, please don’t hesitate to contact our team today.

As a leading firm of consumer action and data breach compensation specialists, our extensive experience speaks for itself. When you need advice and representation for a data breach issue, we’re here for you.

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