AT&T Sued by Customer After Security Breach Led to Theft of Cryptocurrency – News Bitcoin News

An AT&T customer filed a lawsuit against the company last week, accusing it of failing to “provide adequate and reasonable security to prevent unauthorized access to its wireless customer accounts.” This has resulted in the theft of cryptocurrency from the plaintiff’s crypto exchange account.

AT&T sued by crypto investor

An AT&T customer, Jamarquis Etheridge, filed a lawsuit against AT&T Inc. and AT&T Mobility LLC in the District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Wednesday.

Etheridge, a resident of Texas, has been an AT&T customer since 2009. He claims to have been the victim of “SIM swapping”, also known as “SIM hijacking”. SIM swapping is a widespread scam that AT&T is no stranger to. The company was involved in a major case of this scam with crypto investor Michael Terpin last year.

The court document filed by Etheridge’s attorney Richard E. Brown states that on or about September 10, 2020, AT&T “gave the perpetrators access to Plaintiff’s Etheridge wireless account without his authorization,” claiming:

AT&T was only able to contain this security breach the next day, so that the perpetrators were able to empty the cryptocurrency account of the applicant Etheridge.

He goes on to claim that “AT&T was aware of the widespread harm that SIM swapping would bring,” as the company previously issued public warnings warning customers of the industry-wide threat of this type of fraud.

Etheridge also said that AT&T has assured its customers that it will take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorized SIM swaps from happening to its account holders. Nevertheless, it says in the court document:

AT&T has practices that … do not provide adequate and adequate security to prevent unauthorized access to its wireless customer accounts, which allows unauthorized persons to authenticate and then grant access to sensitive wireless customer account information, including access and control over 159.8 Ethereum tokens.

After the incident, the price of ether hit more than $ 4,200 per coin, the court document said. At the time of writing, ETH’s price has fallen to $ 3,338.

Plaintiff alleges that he has suffered and continues to suffer actual damage as a result of AT & T’s acts or omissions, including loss of 159.8 ETH, lost time, embarrassment and humiliation, anger and frustration, fear, anxiety, financial insecurity, discomfort, emotional stress and various expenses.

In addition to the “compensation and equity protection for restoration” to 159.8 ETH, he also demands compensation for statutory damages, triple damages, punitive damages, award of legal fees and reimbursement of all costs, “pre- and post-court interest on all amounts awarded” and all other legal remedies, which the court deems fair and fair.

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