Citi Trends class action claims data breach compromised employee data

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Citi Trends class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: Plaintiff Sabrina Green-Fogg filed a class action lawsuit against Citi Trends Inc.
• Why: Citi Trends allegedly failed to encrypt or redact current and former employees’ personally identifiable information, leaving it vulnerable to a data breach.
• Where: The Citi Trends class action lawsuit was filed in Georgia federal court.
• What are my options: Norton LifeLock carries many options when it comes to data security.

Citi Trends Inc. failed to safeguard current and former employees’ personally identifiable information (PII), leaving it vulnerable to a data breach that was discovered in January, according to a class action lawsuit filed July 14 in Georgia federal court.

Citi Trends is a clothing retailer that operates more than 600 stores in 33 states, the Citi Trends class action lawsuit explains.

On or around Jan. 14, the retailer reportedly learned of a Citi Trends data breach that compromised the PII of current and former employees.

Plaintiff Sabrina Green-Fogg says she received notice of the Citi Trends data breach via a letter dated June 22 sent via U.S. Mail, months after the breach was allegedly discovered.

Information that may have been compromised in the Citi Trends data breach includes employees’ full names, Social Security numbers, birthdates and bank account information.

The Citi Trends class action lawsuit says the retailer failed to encrypt or redact employees’ highly sensitive information, leaving it vulnerable to hackers. 

The plaintiff says Citi Trends should have known the PII it collected would be targeted by cybercriminals because of the substantial increase in cyberattacks of companies that collect and store PII, and therefore should have taken measures to prevent such attacks.

Plaintiff: Citi Trends data breach resulted in fraudulent bank account, increase in spam

The plaintiff says she experienced fraud when a bank account was falsely opened in her name in January 2023. She also says she has experienced an increase in spam phone calls, text messages and/or emails since the Citi Trends data breach.

In response, she has spent out-of-pocket costs on LifeLock credit monitoring and identity theft protection services and spent time mitigating the risk and imminent threat of identity theft, the Citi Trends class action lawsuit says.

Had she known Citi Trends would not adequately protect her PII, the plaintiff says, she would not have entrusted the retailer with her personal information.

The Citi Trends class action lawsuit asserts claims for negligence, breach of implied contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment and violation of Georgia’s Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Citi Trends is not the first company to be affected by a data breach.

Earlier this year, Dole Food Co. reportedly confirmed it had suffered a data breach that compromised the information of Dole employees and required the company to temporarily shut down its plants.

Were you affected by the Citi Trends breach? Tell us about your experience in the comments.

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