Wells Fargo is currently facing a new class action lawsuit regarding the bank’s alleged inadequacies in safeguarding customers’ personally identifiable information. The lawsuit, initiated by lead plaintiff Tamra Bacon, claims that Wells Fargo has experienced a “preventable hack” that has compromised the data of thousands of customers. Last month, Wells Fargo acknowledged a data breach, revealing that an insider had accessed and exploited customer information to commit fraud between May 2022 and March 2023.
In a letter to customers, which was made available on the Office of the Vermont Attorney General’s website, Wells Fargo disclosed that the compromised data includes names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank account numbers, credit and debit card numbers, brokerage account numbers, and loan or line of credit numbers. Bacon asserts that this incident has resulted in significant financial distress for her. She states, “The Data Breach has caused Plaintiff Tamra to suffer fear, anxiety, and stress, which has been compounded by the fact that Defendant has still not fully informed her of key details about the Data Breach’s occurrence.” Furthermore, she anticipates incurring substantial time and financial costs in her efforts to mitigate the damages caused by the breach.
Bacon emphasizes that she is currently at an elevated risk of identity theft and fraud, a situation that is likely to persist for years. Wells Fargo has not issued a public statement regarding the breach, which Bacon attributes to insufficient security measures at the nation’s third-largest bank. “Representative Plaintiff seeks to hold Defendant accountable for the damages it has inflicted and will continue to inflict on Representative Plaintiff and, at least, thousands of other similarly affected individuals due to the preventable hack allegedly identified by Defendant around July 2024, during which unauthorized individuals accessed the inadequately secured network servers of the Defendant and obtained highly sensitive personally identifiable information that was left unprotected.”
The complaint indicates that there are presently over 100 individuals participating in the class. Bacon asserts that these class members have the right to seek “injunctive and other equitable relief” due to the compromise of their data, which has, in certain instances, been utilized to perpetrate fraud.
