This is important if you have ever considered purchasing a Volkswagen or Audi.
Financial transactions are involved in the purchase, lease, and financing of a car. Even though it is not stated explicitly, customers’ private information should always be protected, especially when purchasing an automobile. However, the Volkswagen Group vendor has failed to protect the privacy of its customers. This affected more than 3.3million people in North America. Automotive News reported the problem and received a statement form VW of America.
According to the statement, the vendor recently discovered that an unauthorized third party has obtained “limited personal data about customers and buyers from a vendor that Audi and Volkswagen, as well as some authorized dealers in the United States, use for digital marketing and sales activities.” This information was taken from an electronic file left unsecured by the vendor, between 2014 and 2019. Leaked information was mainly from 3.1 Million Audi customers in the US or interested buyers in Canada. Volkswagen was affected by the leakage of information about 3,300 customers and potential buyers. This leakage affected names, addresses and email addresses as well as phone numbers and VINs.
Around 90,000 Audi customers and interested buyers in the US are at greater risk than others. This is because sensitive information about these individuals was obtained, including driver’s license numbers in 95 per cent of cases. The remaining 5 percent had their birth dates, Social Security numbers and account numbers stolen by an unauthorized third party. VW stated that no sensitive information was obtained from Canadian customers. The company will also notify all affected individuals directly. Credit protection services for those 90,000 who have sensitive information will be provided free of charge to those individuals.