  We consider a class of flavored dark matter (DM) theories where dark matter
interacts with the Standard Model lepton fields at the renormalizable level. We
allow for a general coupling matrix between the dark matter and leptons whose
structure is beyond the one permitted by the minimal flavor violation (MFV)
assumption. It is assumed that this is the only new source of flavor violation
in addition to the Standard Model (SM) Yukawa interactions. The setup can be
described by augmenting the SM flavor symmetry by an additional
$\mathrm{SU}(3)_{\chi}$, under which the dark matter $\chi$ transforms. This
framework is especially phenomenologically rich, due to possible novel
flavor-changing interactions which are not present within the more restrictive
MFV framework. As a representative case study of this setting, which we call
"beyond MFV" (BMFV), we consider Dirac fermion dark matter which transforms as
a singlet under the SM gauge group and a triplet under $\mathrm{SU}(3)_{\chi}$.
The DM fermion couples to the SM lepton sector through a scalar mediator
$\phi$. Unlike the case of quark-flavored DM, we show that there is no
$\mathbb{Z}_3$ symmetry within either the MFV or BMFV settings which
automatically stabilizes the lepton-flavored DM. We discuss constraints on this
setup from flavor-changing processes, DM relic abundance as well as direct and
indirect detections. We find that relatively large flavor-changing couplings
are possible, while the dark matter mass is still within the phenomenologically
interesting region below the TeV scale. Collider signatures which can be
potentially searched for at the lepton and hadron colliders are discussed.
Finally, we discuss the implications for decaying dark matter, which can appear
if an additional stabilizing symmetry is not imposed.
