Thousands of Americans can get $4k in free money from data breach settlement - find out if you can c
A DATA breach that impacted thousands of Americans has been addressed in a class-action lawsuit settlement.
Those who wish to make a claim which could see them receive over $4,000 in free money have just weeks to apply.
In February 2022, the personal information of almost 18,000 Inntopia customers was accessed and stolen.
Inntopia oversees websites where sales are made for a number of companies, meaning that payment information was included in the accessed data.
The Connor Rowe v. Sterling Valley Systems Inc. lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of Vermont last year accuses the company of failing to protect customer information.
The filing was made by Rowe and "on behalf of all others similarly situated."
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Those impacted by the breach were contacted by the marketing company about the issue with a notice.
There are also other customers in California who also had their data breached during the incident.
According to the lawsuit, Inntopia should have done more to protect personal client information and been quicker at identifying a breach.
The unauthorized access to the private information of customers began on or around October 9, 2021, but was only detected around February 18, 2022, according to court docs.
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From the agreed settlement, customers can receive up to $500 from expenses in relation to the data breach which left them out of pocket.
This includes fees for credit reports and monitoring, bank fees, cell phone charges, data charges, and travel costs.
In addition to this, they can also get up to three hours of pay at $20 per hour to reimburse documented lost time due to the security breach.
Class members can also get up to $3,500 if they can show documentation proving "extraordinary loss reimbursement for documented monetary losses," according to Top Class Actions.
Meanwhile, those subclass members in California who were also impacted by the breach can get $75 per person via the settlement.
Class members can also get free credit monitoring for two years and access to identity theft protection services.
Claimants will have to show documentation to prove their eligibility, this could be invoices, receipts, billing statements, and a notice ID, for class members.
The final date to submit a claim form is November 30, 2023, which can be done here.
Meanwhile, the exclusion and objection date is October 31 and a fairness hearing in the settlement is scheduled for 3 pm EST on January 9, 2024.
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