BP Gas Station Hit With FACTA Class Action Lawsuit

An Illinois woman is bringing forth allegations that BP gas station locations are in violation of federal credit card receipt laws by not truncating sensitive information on customers’ electronic transaction receipts.

To curb means of identity theft, Congress enacted the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions ACT or FACTA in 2003, prohibiting merchants who accept credit or debit cards from issuing electronically-generated receipts that display either the expiration date or more than the last five digits of the card number.

FACTA compliance provisions provide that “No person that accepts credit cards or debit cards for the transaction of business shall print more than the last 5 digits of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt provided to the cardholder at the point of sale or transaction.”

The law gave merchants who accept credit cards and debit cards up to three years to comply with its requirements, requiring full FACTA compliance with its provisions no later than December 4, 2006.

Additionally, in June 2008, Congress retroactively removed liability for willful expiration date violations.

Allegations of FACTA Violations

Plaintiff Kassandra Werner filed the BP Gas Station FACTA class action lawsuit in February 2016 accusing the gas station company of violating FACTA compliance by printing sensitive credit and debit card information on receipts after customers had paid for their purchases at a number of BP gas station locations.

In her FACTA lawsuit, Werner states that she frequently purchases gas and related products from BP gas station locations in the western Chicago area.

Within the past two years, Werner says she has received from each BP gas station she made purchases from on at least one occasion, a computer-generated cash register credit card receipt which displayed more than the last five digits of her card number along with her card’s expiration date.

Each BP gas station, according to Werner, has willfully violated FACTA law and failed to protect her and the consumer public against identity theft and credit and debit card fraud by failing to comply with FACTA’s truncation requirement.

Werner is seeking statutory damages, attorneys’ fees, costs, along with punitive damages for BP gas station’s alleged willful violation of FACTA.

She is proposing to represent four nationwide class of consumers who received an electronically printed debit or credit card receipt at the point of sale of transaction from BP gas stations’ corporate entities on or two years from the filing of this case.

Understanding FACTA Compliance

The primary purpose of FACTA’s truncation requirement is to prevent identity theft.  According to the Federal Trade Commission, over 9 million persons each year have their identity assumed by criminals for financial gain.

One common method identity thieves use is to obtain credit card receipts that are lost or discarded.

As such, gas stations, like BP gas station locations, are prime targets for criminals as many consumers often toss their gas station receipts in the trash, leaving their sensitive information vulnerable to thieves.

Business like BP gas stations, are liable to provide safe and secure transactions that safeguard consumers from criminal acts.  By not complying with FACTA rules, they fail to protect their customers.

In some cases, consumers may be entitled to recover their actual damages sustained as a result of a violation of FACTA, which, in the case of identity theft, could be very large. In other cases, consumers may be able to recover statutory damages of up to $1,000 for each consumer affected by a violation of FACTA rules.

As a consumer, if your debit or credit card receipt was printed showing the last five digits of your card number, expiration date, or any other data that puts you at risk for identity theft, you may have grounds to file a FACTA lawsuit.

The BP Gas Station FACTA Class Action Lawsuit is Werner v. HD Petroleum et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-02005 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

Free FACTA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you made one or more purchases and the retailer provided you with a receipt that contained more than the last five digits of your credit or debit card number or the expiration date, you may be eligible for a free class action lawsuit investigation and to pursue compensation for these FACTA violations.

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