ROBINHOOD

DESCRIPTION OF EVENTS

"Investing for Everyone. Commission-free investing, plus the tools you need to put your money in motion. Sign up and get your first stock for free. Certain limitations and fees apply." "Tap into the cryptocurrency market to buy, HODL, and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and more, 24/7 with Robinhood Crypto."

"We believe the financial system should be built to work for everyone. That’s why we create products that let you start investing at your own pace, on your own terms." "Other crypto exchanges charge up to 4% just to buy and sell crypto. We charge 0%." "Industry-leading security. Ownership over your coins. Cold storage for vast majority of our customers’ coins. Crime insurance against theft and cybersecurity breaches."

"The firm, which helped popularize free trading, went on a hiring binge for customer-service staff, more than tripling the size of that team in 2020. The brokerage opened offices in Arizona, Texas and Colorado as part of its expansion. It unveiled 24/7 phone support [in October 2021]." "The online brokerage has about 18.9 million retail clients."

"Almost 2,000 Robinhood Markets accounts were compromised in a recent hacking spree that siphoned off customer funds, a sign that the attacks were more widespread than was previously known." "Some complained there was no one available to call." "A person with knowledge of an internal review, who asked not to be identified because the findings aren’t public, provided the estimated figure."

"The attacks unleashed a torrent of complaints on social media, where investors recounted futile attempts to call the brokerage, which doesn’t have a customer service phone number. Robinhood, which has more than 13 million customer accounts, is now considering whether to add a phone number along with other tools, the person said."

"Several victims said they found no sign of criminals compromising their email accounts. And some said their brokerage accounts were accessed even though they had set up two-factor authentication." "[R]ecent findings show that almost 2000 customer accounts were compromised in a recent hacking spree that siphoned off customer funds. This implies the was not a singular, but rather a part of a widespread form of attack."

"Lena Williams, a human resources professional in the Chicago area, can’t figure out how hackers got into her account more than a month ago. She found no intrusion into her email and had set up two-factor authentication. But one day, she woke up to alerts that her investments were being sold, and she quickly discovered she was locked out of the account."

Early the next morning she received a barrage of alerts on her phone. “It said ‘This stock sold. This stock sold. This stock sold,’” recalled Laino, 29. “It’s like if you wake up at 4 a.m. and your house is on fire.”

"Unable to find a phone number, Laino said she emailed customer support but received no response. Then she checked her email’s trash bin and discovered someone had accessed it, setting it up to intercept messages from Robinhood. Laino said she got a call from customer support on Sept. 25. That’s when she learned someone had created fake identification and submitted it to Robinhood to reactivate trading. The forgery had her information, a photo of a different person and a font that doesn’t match Arizona’s official state IDs."

"On 9 October, Fintech startup Robinhood Markets Inc. stated that a few of their customer accounts may have been hacked." "When Bloomberg first reported on the hacking spree, the popular online brokerage disclosed few details. It said “a limited number” of customers had been struck by cyber-criminals who gained access by breaching personal email accounts outside of Robinhood, an assertion that some of the victims acknowledge and others reject."

“We always respond to customers reporting fraudulent or suspicious activity and work as quickly as possible to complete investigations,” the company said in an emailed statement. “The security of Robinhood customer accounts is a top priority and something we take very seriously.”

"This week, Robinhood sent push notifications to users suggesting they enable two-factor authentication on their accounts. It also plans to send customers more advice on security, according to the statement."

"Laino said Robinhood restored her account and stock holdings, but she still plans to eventually leave the firm."

“I don’t want to sell right now,” she said. “But I’m not going to put any more money into it. I don’t really trust them.”

In late 2020, over 2,000 accounts on the Robinhood trading platform were breached. Users reported difficulties in obtaining support at the time. While some users report that their funds were restored by the platform, it's unclear if all funds were restored.

Robinhood security breach exposes data on 7M users - BNN Bloomberg (Feb 1)
Commission-free Stock Trading & Investing App | Robinhood (Feb 1)
About Us | Robinhood (Feb 1)
Robinhood Crypto (Feb 1)
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/09/robinhood-data-breach-involved-7-million-clients-protect-your-credit.html (Feb 1)
Robinhood estimates hackers infiltrated almost 2,000 accounts - BNN Bloomberg (Feb 11)
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/securities-law/robinhood-security-breach-exposes-data-on-millions-of-customers (Feb 11)
@business Twitter (Feb 11)
https://www.coinspeaker.com/robinhood-hack-2000-accounts/ (Feb 11)
Nearly 2,000 Robinhood Accounts Were Hacked And Irate Customers Had No One To Call For Help (Feb 11)
Robinhood Markets - Wikipedia (Feb 11)
ipo: Robinhood seeks advisers for potential IPO next year - The Economic Times (Feb 11)
Robinhood Pretty Good At Getting Hacked, Not So Good At Getting Back To Hacking Victims - Dealbreaker (Feb 11)
2000 Robinhood Customer Accounts have been Hacked - TheDigitalHacker (Feb 11)
Almost 2,000 Robinhood accounts infiltrated in recent hacking spree | Financial Post (Apr 9)

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