Investment fraud resulting from data breaches

Every year, thousands of people fall prey to investment fraud, in which criminals lure victims in with the promise of huge returns. While some of these scams can be unsophisticated and easy to detect, others can be highly convincing, making them harder for people to identify.

In order to target victims with investment scams, fraudsters first need to gain access to contact details in order to send out their fraudulent marketing material. In the digital age, in which businesses hold vast quantities of consumers’ personal information, data breaches are increasingly becoming prime sources of personal details for cybercriminals.

If your personal information is exposed in a data breach, and falls into the hands of cybercriminals, you could be put at risk of all kinds of financial crimes. In cases where the data controller failed to do enough to protect your private information, they can be indirectly responsible for the risks you have been exposed to, and they could be liable to pay you compensation as a victim of the data breach. To find out more about a potential data breach claim, contact our specialist team for free, no-obligation advice.

What is investment fraud?

Investment fraud can come in different forms, but it typically involves criminals sending out unsolicited messages or making calls to victims about new products, schemes or businesses for them to invest in. Typically, criminals might aim to convince victims to make an upfront investment payment, with the promise of huge returns. However, in reality, victims usually never hear from the criminals again.

Data breach victims can be at a higher risk from receiving contact from criminals like these, as their private details may have been released into the public domain. They may even be circulating among criminals on the dark web. In fact, investment fraud is not the only type of scam data breach victims may be targeted with, as phishing emails and identify fraud can also be common threats. What criminals could do is make themselves look more legitimate by saying that they are from a company that has been breached, or that they partner with such a company and using your own details to convince you.

What can victims do?

In many cases, the culprits of investment fraud specifically engineer their scams in a way that can make them untraceable, which means it can be difficult to pursue justice in this way. However, if you suspect that you were targeted by a fraudster as a direct result of a data breach, it may be possible to hold the data controller in question responsible by making a compensation claim.

Besides allowing victims to claim for the loss of control and distress caused by a data breach, the law also specifically takes account of the financial impact of data breaches. This means that those who have fallen victim to fraud as a result of a data breach could be reimbursed for these losses in a claim, depending on what has happened.

Make your data breach claim with expert lawyers

At Your Lawyers – the Data Leak Lawyers – as a leading firm, we have been representing victims for privacy matters for over six years, and we can ensure that a member of our expert data privacy team is assigned to every data breach claim. As this is a new, emerging area of law, few other firms possess the specialist knowledge required to make data breach claims a success, but we can promise our clients that we will do everything possible to get them the highest possible compensation amount.

To receive free, no-obligation advice on your potential compensation claim, you can contact us today or register your details for a call-back.

Vulnerable victims of data breaches

Billions of leaked records – data exposure in 2021