Zales Parent Embeds Promotional Emails With ‘Spy’ Tracking Pixels, Alleges Class Action

Signet Jewelers, which operates Zales stores nationally, beckons customers to sign up for its email promotions to entice them to visit its stores, without disclosing that it embeds those emails with “hidden spy pixel trackers,” alleged plaintiff Claudette Torrez’s class action Tuesday (docket 2:24-cv-01332) in U.S. District Court for Arizona.

The embedded trackers capture and log sensitive customer information, including how long it takes the subscriber to read the email, and whether and to whom the email was forwarded, said the complaint. Signet never received subscribers’ consent to collect this private information, it said. The complaint alleges violations of Arizona’s Telephone, Utility and Communication Service Records Act.

Signet’s “invasive surveillance” of Torrez’s sensitive reading habits and clandestine collection of her confidential email records “invaded her privacy and intruded upon her seclusion,” said the complaint. The Arizona statute prohibits Signet from "procuring or attempting to procure the communication service records of email recipients without their authorization,” it said.

From about May 2020 through April 2024, Torrez frequently opened Signet’s emails to review the retailer’s promotional materials, said the complaint. She most recently opened one of Signet’s emails in February, it said. Each time the Gilbert, Arizona, resident opened a Signet email, the retailer procured her “sensitive email information,” it said.

Signet uses the “spy pixels” to track when customers open their emails, said the complaint. Signet also hides trackers within images embedded within emails through the use of spy tracking pixels from Dotomi, it said. Dotomi’s spy pixel trackers were designed to engage and convert customers by monitoring each subject’s action and inaction, in an effort to move them closer to purchase, it said. Torrez was unaware that tracking pixels were embedded in the emails, as Signet doesn’t inform users “it embeds tracking pixels in its marketing emails,” it said.

Torrez’s complaint seeks an order declaring that Signet’s conduct violates the Arizona statute. She seeks actual damages of $1,000 for each violation, plus damages equal to the sum of any profits Signet made while violating the statute. She also seeks injunctive relief to protect the interests of the class, defined as all persons within Arizona who have opened a Signet marketing email with an embedded tracking spy pixel.