The beloved fast-food giant is facing a lawsuit over a large-scale credit card breach. Last month, it was revealed that the company was unintentionally using unauthorized software intended to get credit card data on pay processing computers. It is speculated that over 6,000 areas were affected.
The class action lawsuit was filed in an Orlando federal court with the lead plaintiff alleging that the fast food giant "employed inadequate safety measures and failed to quickly send notice to customers." According to a report from Courthouse News Service, Wendy's did their own investigation of the breach. What provoked the lawsuit was how delayed they notified their customers of the situation. The lead plaintiff, namely Jonathan Torres, claims that hackers spent $6000 on his credit card shortly after he used in one of the company's branches.
A report from the Eater reveals the sentiments of the consumers, saying "While many retailers, banks, and card companies responded to recent breaches by adopting technology that helps make transactions more secure, Wendy's has acknowledged that it did not do so."
Another issue that consumers were dissatisfied with was the fact that the company failed to separate financial information from each customer's personal information. The complaint indicates, "It is well known and the subject of many media reports that Private Identifiable Information is highly coveted and a frequent target of hackers."
Torres is suing the company for the company for negligence, breach of contract, and violation of Florida's Unfair Deceptive Trade Practices Act. In addition, he is requesting that the court certifies a class of other affected consumers who lost money from the breach.
So far, Wendy's is the only fast-food chain affected by this kind of a breach. Other companies that were victim to similar scams include Landry's (which lasted for two years), P.F. Chang, and Jimmy John's.
