Robinhood: Personal info of millions of customers stolen in ‘data security incident’

Some personal information for some Robinhood customers was accessed and obtained by an unauthorized third party, the online brokerage company announced Monday. 

Robinhood said the "data security incident" happened late in the evening on Nov. 3 and that a "limited amount of personal information for a portion of customers" was accessed. 

Robinhood said the unauthorized party is believed to have obtained a list of email addresses for approximately five million people and full names for a different group of approximately two million people. The company said this summer when it went public that it had 17.7 million monthly active users as of March 2021.

Additionally, Robinhood said personal information including name, date of birth and zip code was exposed for a small group of customers, approximately 310 in total. About 10 customers had "more extensive account details revealed," Robinhood said, but did not elaborate. 

"Based on our investigation, the attack has been contained and we believe that no Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or debit card numbers were exposed and that there has been no financial loss to any customers as a result of the incident," the company said in a statement. 

"We are in the process of making appropriate disclosures to affected people," the company continued.

Robinhood said a customer support employee was "socially engineered" by the unauthorized party on the phone, resulting in the information being accessed and obtained. 

The hacker then demanded money, Robinhood said, which was promptly reported to law enforcement. 

"As a Safety First company, we owe it to our customers to be transparent and act with integrity," said Robinhood Chief Security Officer Caleb Sima. "Following a diligent review, putting the entire Robinhood community on notice of this incident now is the right thing to do."

RELATED: Menlo Park-based Robinhood goes public with a tumble and sharp swings

Since its launch in 2014, Robinhood’s popularity has forced rivals to get rid of commissions and to offer apps that make stock trading easy and maybe even fun. The Menlo Park, California-based company has said more than half of its customers are first-time investors.

Many of those first-time investors have started trading on Robinhood due to the popularity of meme stocks like GameStop. The trading frenzy that followed forced Robinhood to limit some trades because of the massive volume and it drew some government scrutiny.

This story was reported from Detroit. The Associated Press contributed.