Both online retailers and high street retailers can deal with thousands upon thousands of transactions every day. With so many payment details taken and recorded on their systems, it is unsurprising that retailers are prime targets for cybercriminals. However, where businesses fail to act against this external threat, they can bear at least part of the responsibility for retail data breach compensation claims.
When exposed, the personal information held by retailers can be at high risk, exposing victims to theft and fraud. Moreover, the emotional impact of such incidents can be severe, causing those affected to suffer significant stress and worry.
Customers should be valued not neglected, which is why it is unforgivable when retailers fail to properly protect the private information that has been disclosed to them. If a third party is found to be responsible for a data breach that affected you, you could be eligible to recover thousands of pounds in damages as part of a data breach compensation claim. We can advise you on a no-obligation basis if you think you may have a claim to make.
Retail data breach compensation claims and the impact of breaches
Retailers can often hold significant information about their customers, particularly in cases where customers have made online accounts with them. As such, retail sector businesses may hold all of the following details about one customer alone:
- name;
- address;
- email address;
- account password;
- phone number;
- payment card information;
- date of birth;
- gender details.
While this will not happen in all cases, some retail data breach compensation claims involve the exposure of all the information above. Such breaches can have the potential to cause a significant breach of the victims’ privacy.
Contact details can allow criminals to target victims with scams. Payment information can enable theft from victims’ bank accounts, and where those affected have reused their password elsewhere, an exposed password could enable a criminal to hack multiple other online accounts.
Examples of retail data breaches
The potential impact of retail data breaches can be demonstrated in a number of recent incidents that have occurred in the UK. Last year, the Robert Dyas data breach caused customers’ private details, including card details, to be exposed. Hackers were able to access the information after uploading malicious software to the hardware retailer’s website.
In addition, the Fat Face data breach occurred earlier this year, with media outlets reporting that customers’ names, home and email addresses, and the last four digits of their credit cards were affected. Both of these incidents demonstrate how customers can be put at severe security risk and why retail data breach compensation claims are important.
Making a data breach compensation claim
When claiming for data protection breach compensation, UK claimants could be eligible to recover thousands of pounds in damages for their involvement in a data breach, any distress they have suffered, or any financial losses they have been caused. As leading specialists in data breach claims, we have extensive experience in a range of data breach cases, and we can use our knowledge to help clients recover the compensation they deserve.
We are often able to offer No Win, No Fee representation to eligible claimants, and you can contact our specialist team to receive free, no-obligation advice on your potential claim. This includes for retail data breach compensation cases or general claims.