In exposing the personally identifiable information of 143 million Americans, the Equifax data breach was already plenty bad. Then came the company’s opportunistic response to the massive hack—which gave way to intense public criticism, falling share prices, the revelation that Equifax executives sold stock before the breach was revealed, and even Congressional inquiries—turning the credit monitoring crisis into a full-on ‘dumpster fire.’
Despite all those headlines, victims still aren’t clear on what to do if they were hacked. Thankfully tech has their back. Equifax victims frustrated with the company’s response can fight automated fire with automated fire by filing for a lawsuit using this chatbot. Developed by Joshua Browder, the 20-year-old British programmer who everyone owes a beer to after building DoNotPay, a parking ticket appeal chatbot last year, the Equifax-suing technology is free to use and could pocket you up to $25,000, depending on your state.
“It finds all the details of who exactly to sue and who to give the papers to,” Browder told Yahoo Finance on Monday. “All you have to do is provide your name and phone number. Then it spits out 8 pages with instructions and necessary forms. It probably takes about 20 seconds.”
Currently the lawyer-less Equifax-suing technology is only equipped to file lawsuits in California and New York, but the website says to check back “in 12 hours” for other states. The cases will be filed in small claims courts, which have varying statutes of limitations (typically a year, minimum) depending on the state.
This story was updated Sept. 13 at 6:56 p.m. ET to note that Equifax victims can sue for up to $25,000, depending on their state.
