Chick-fil-A is investigating reports of fraudulent activity on its mobile app after several customers claim their data, including bank account information, was accessed by hackers.
The chain tweeted a statement claiming that the activity is “not due to a compromise of Chick-fil-A Inc.’s internal systems,” adding that it is working quickly to protect customers’ data. The alleged breach was initially reported by Atlanta news station 11Alive after several customers posted about their experience on a Facebook page called Paulding County Uncensored. Paulding County is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, where Chick-fil-A is headquartered. There are now over 100 comments related to suspicious activity.
Chick-fil-A’s app has more than 10 million downloads on Google Play and is ranked as the No. 7 most downloaded food and beverage app on Apple’s app store, behind just McDonald’s, Starbucks and Chipotle in the restaurant category.
As consumers – and businesses – become more digital, data breaches have skyrocketed. In Q3 2022, for instance, data breaches globally were up by 70% year-over-year, according to cybersecurity company Surfshark. In the U.S., they were up 14% in Q1 2022 versus the same period in 2021, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. Restaurants and restaurant adjacent companies have not been immune. McDonald’s was hit by a data breach in 2021, for instance, while DoorDash’s recent breach affected nearly 5 million people.
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
