Dave Banking App Users File Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit

Dave app users have filed a class action lawsuit against the owners of the popular online financial tool, saying the service imperiled the personal information of more than 7.5 million users because of a data breach.

The Dave banking app class action lawsuit was filed by five Dave users — Sadia Calixte, Gregory Hurling, Jvanne Rhodes, Freddie Talley and Oral Talley.

The users explain that Dave is an online financial tool that provides an alternative way for banking customers to conduct a range of transactions without going through traditional banks.

Allegedly, the site allows users to get cash advances, monitors customers’ bank accounts for potential overdrafts, warns customers when they are approaching an overdraft and analyzes customers’ spending habits.

To do this, the site collects a significant amount of personal identification information (PII) and maintains access to this information. CPO Magazine explains that the information collected by Dave is more than what other financial apps might maintain. 

CPO goes on to say Dave used to contract with Waydev for analytics.

Allegedly, Waydev suffered a data breach, and because much of Dave’s user data had been transferred to Waydev, this information was compromised.

As a result, personal information of more than 7.5 million users ended up becoming publicly available, CPO says.

Waydev’s data allegedly appeared on RAID, a hacking forum. Now, the data from Dave is up on RAID, inviting hackers to download it for free.

According to ZDNet, information that was revealed includes full names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and addresses, as well as encrypted Social Security numbers.  

Dave’s website says when Dave was told about the breach, the company launched an investigation into the issue. Reportedly, the company is notifying customers and resetting Dave passwords. 

However, users said Dave waited too long — almost a month — to tell customers about the issue.

Customers complained that the notice sent to the public did not provide enough information about how the data breach occurred; they claim the company merely alleged that the breach occurred at a third-party vendor with whom Dave no longer works.

Additionally, users claim that Dave is not doing enough mediate the effect of the breach on customers.

They note that Dave “suggested” users reset their passwords.

The company also reportedly offered to enroll users in the Mastercard ID Theft Protection program through the end of 2021.

Supposedly, this site would help users recover from the data beach as it would freeze their credit cards, send a notice to the three major credit reporting agencies and help them make affidavits.

The Dave data breach class action lawsuit says Dave disregarded its users’ rights by not taking adequate measures to protect their personal and sensitive data.

The customers say Dave “intentionally, willfully, recklessly, or negligently” failed to take sufficient measures to safeguard the data.

Additionally, the company reportedly failed to disclose that it and third-party vendors did not have adequate security measures in place to keep user data safe.

The Dave banking app data breach class action lawsuit says that as a result of the company’s negligence, millions of users face identity theft, fraud and financial injury.

The plaintiffs note that fraud and identity theft can take years to recover from, and state that an instance of fraud and identity theft can take years to resolve, involving an investment of both money and time.

Because of the Dave banking app data breach, users say, they and millions of others “will forever be at a heightened risk of identify theft and fraud.”

Dave reportedly knew it could be a target for hackers because it stores such a significant amount of user data.

Users say Dave’s own situation as well as data breaches experienced by other companies should have been enough to impress upon the company the importance of data security.

The Dave banking app data breach class action settlement goes on to state that Dave touts its data security to users, saying it uses “industry standard encryption,” and tells customers that no third-party site has access to user info.

However, users say Dave failed to live up to the promises it makes regarding information security.

Have you ever had your information compromised in a data breach? Share your experiences in the comments below.

The Dave users are represented by Michael F. Ram, Marie N. Appel, John A. Yanchunis and Patrick A. Barthle of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group and by Joel Rhine, Martin Ramey and Janet Coleman of Rhine Law Firm PC. 

The Dave Financial Tool Class Action Lawsuit is Sadia Calixte, et al. v. Dave Inc., Case No. 2:20-cv-07704, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

Cancer Patients Seek OK For $8M Data Breach Deal

Class Action Lawsuit Alleges NBC Illegally Profits from Golf Channel Viewer Data

Are Juul Pods Safe If You Have a History of Seizures?

E-Cigarette JUUL Side Effects: Heart & Lung Lawsuit Investigation