A Quebecer has just filed an application for authorization for a class action against the oil company Suncor, following the cyberattack of June 21. Hackers gained access to the data of participants in the Petro-Points program, which has since been suspended.
Esteben Harguindeguy especially deplores the lack of transparency shown by Petro-Canada in this whole story.
“We are made loyal and then we are the least of their worries,” explains the Repentigny resident, who filed his application on Friday, July 7, in an interview.
It was while driving to his gas station on June 21 that this loyal Petro-Canada customer realized something was wrong. The loyalty program was not working. Neither did the following days. According to him, the employees were themselves misinformed and transmitted contradictory information to the customers. He was also asked to pay cash if he filled up with gas – which was the case at several Canadian outlets. He was eventually told there had been a cyberattack.
On June 26, Suncor did confirm that hackers had gained access to the personal information of its Petro-Points customers, without giving much more detail.
“We believe that the Petro-Points information obtained by the unauthorized party is limited to your name and information you may have provided since joining the program, specifically your email address and mailing address, phone number phone number and date of birth,” Suncor told its customers.
Esteben Harguindeguy, however, fears that sensitive information is in the hands of these malicious people, since he personally received an alert warning him that his contact details ended up on a fraudulent site. He believes that the oil company should have been proactive and kept its customers informed of the situation and the impact it could have on them.
In his class action motion, filed on behalf of Canadians affected by this situation – the number of which is undetermined – he criticizes Suncor for not offering Equifax protection to its customers since the leak. He demands that this be done, as well as financial compensation for the damage caused by the cyberattack and its management, which is deemed deficient.
On Monday, at Petro-Canada on Saint-Denis Street in Montreal, the clerk kindly confirmed to us that the program was still suspended indefinitely, and that the parent company had not provided him with additional information.
However, the oil company claims that the points lost during the suspension of the program will be credited to customers.
