Politics & Government

Local Woman Sues Barnes & Noble for Identify Theft

One of the customers of the Deerfield store says the bookseller did not properly secure her personal information before its PIN pads were hacked. The Evanston store was also hacked.

A Deerfield woman sued Barnes & Noble for invasion of privacy claiming her credit card information was stolen when shopped at the booksellers’ Deerfield store in August and September, according to a complaint filed Monday in federal court in Chicago.

Susan Winstead filed the complaint for herself and “on behalf of others similarly situated,” attempting to create a class action lawsuit against Barnes & Noble arising from compromised PIN pads in 63 of the company’s stores throughout the United States, according to the complaint. The Evanston store was on the list of stores with compromised data.

Earlier: Evanston Barnes & Noble Card Readers Were Hacked

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“The area of personal data protection is an area of rising public concern and something that needs to be of the utmost importance to the retail and merchant group in the country,” Aron Robinson, one of Winstead’s lawyers, said.

According to the complaint, Winstead received a call from her credit card company in late September about a potentially fraudulent transaction. She confirmed the activity was improper and deactivated the card.

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Though Barnes & Noble acknowledged on Oct. 24 that PIN pads in 63 stores including Deerfield and Evanston had been compromised and information contained there stolen by criminals, it has yet to offer any compensation to the victim, according to the complaint.

The complaint also claims Wintstead and others whose personal information was wrongfully obtained will be required to take corrective action which could leave them more vulnerable to identity theft in the future, according to the complaint.

Robinson believes people should be better protected. “Consumers need to be comfortable providing this kind of information to retailers and know retailers are using every measure possible to secure their customer’s private information,” he said.

In addition to identity theft, Winstead has accused Barnes & Noble of negligence, violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the Act) and further negligence violating the Act.

Barnes & Noble did not respond to a request from Patch for comments.


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