E.D. Tenn.: No Threatening Mass of Hackers Using Credit Card Receipts

Today, Judge Curtis Collier issued a decision, McCould v. Save a Lot, No. 3:18-cv-486, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87591 (E.D. Tenn. May 24, 2019) granting the Defendants' motion to dismiss without prejudice. The suit concerned an alleged violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681, which prohibits printing more than the last 5 digits of a credit card on a receipt. The Plaintiff alleged that Save a Lot printed the first six and last four digits of his credit card on a receipt.

The Court found that the plaintiff did not show any material risk of harm, where there was only a possibility that a computer hacker could use the first six digits of a card to make an online purchase. There was no showing that this information was used by hackers in a "threatening mass". Id. at *22. The hacking method using credit card numbers could only be exploited for VISA cards, and the plaintiff's complaint did not indicate which kind of credit card he held.