WAWA, a convenience and retail store from Pennsylvania, has questioned the card giant MasterCard over its imposed penalty on data breach. Going deep into the details, in the year 2019, WAWA experienced a data breach in its customer payments database.
A detailed probe launched in Dec’19 discovered that a hacking group infiltrated the systems of payment cards and stole credit card info from over 842 WAWA stores in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, DC and Florida along with New Jersey.
On hearing the investigation details, MasterCard launched an inquiry and imposed a hefty fine on WAWA for failing to secure the critical details of its customers. The retail store agreed to pay $9m in cash and some in gifts to MasterCard to settle a class action suit filed by the American Multinational Financial Services store. It also agreed to invest $35m to upgrade its current cybersecurity posture in compliance with the current security landscape.
Wawa has now lodged a lawsuit against MasterCard and the Bank of America for being unfair in practicing business policies. It is also alleging MasterCard to pay $32m in damages and for the distress it had to go through from the past 14 months along with reputational damage that occurred as the company had to face over 6 lawsuits seeking class action status in the federal court in Philadelphia.
Note- Wawa credit card offers to its customers the privilege of paying at its fuel and gas stations and customers can also buy food and beverages at discounted prices at all convenience stores.
