Oklahoma City resident faces financial woes after breathalyzer company hack
By Jason Burger
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OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) — A nationwide cybersecurity hack impacted Intoxalock, a company that provides court-ordered ignition interlock devices, causing some drivers to be unable to start their cars and leading to financial issues for an Oklahoma City resident.
An Oklahoma City man, who chose not to be identified, shared his experience with Intoxalock.
“It’s just been ongoing, ongoing, ongoing, and I’m like…I am so done with this,” he said.
Earlier this month, Intoxalock experienced a cybersecurity incident, resulting in a hack that left many unable to start their cars without a clean breath test.
“Taking Ubers, called friends, anyway I could get to work,” he said, describing how he managed to commute while his car was out of service. He dropped his car off at a shop until they could uninstall the system, which took several days. Many others across the country faced similar issues.
“You need groceries, you gotta go to work…you gotta do something,” he said, emphasizing the inconvenience caused by the hack.
He had completed his time with the breathalyzer system and was in the process of having it uninstalled.
“Monday is when I got it uninstalled, Tuesday is when they said my account was closed when I was done with them,” he said.
However, a new problem arose when Intoxalock automatically withdrew money from his account after the equipment was removed and his account was paid in full.
“I asked them if there was anything else owed, and stuff like that, and they said ‘no,’ so I said OK, I don’t need to call or check in again? They said ‘no,’” he said.
“I had to go to the bank, and I had to shut that card down, and I had to dispute the charges because I’m not going to sit on the phone with them for days to see where the $70 went,” he said, explaining his efforts to dispute the charge.
Despite his efforts, he is not optimistic about getting the money back.
“If I could get some of that money back and if I could reimburse the people that helped me out, that’d be great, but it’s going to come out of my pocket,” he said.
Attempts to reach Intoxalock for comment were unsuccessful.
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On their Facebook page, the company posted on Monday that their systems were restored, but further information about the cyber hack has not been released.
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