On Wednesday, August 15, a California investor filed a lawsuit against AT&T for $224 million claiming that the company negligence and failure to protect his privacy allegedly caused him to lose an estimated $24 million in cryptocurrency. The complaint filed by Michael Terpin states that as a result of “AT&T’s willing cooperation with the hacker, gross negligence, violation of its statutory duties, and failure to adhere to its commitments in its Privacy Policy,” he lost nearly $24 million worth of cryptocurrency. And he wants his money back.
Terpin, the founder of Currently, runs Transform Group, a consulting business in blockchain and ICO PR, has filed a 69-page complaint in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, against the telecom giant. Terpin alleges that “AT&T solemnly promises its cellular telephone subscribers that it will safeguard their private information—and particularly their data-rich SIM cards—from any unauthorized disclosure. Besides the numerous promises that AT&T makes in its Privacy Policy and Code of Business Conduct, federal and state law impose a strict duty on the nation’s second-largest cellular telephone carrier to take all necessary steps to preserve the privacy of its almost 140 million customers. In AT&T’s case, this mandate has fallen on deaf ears. ”
The complaint further alleges that its employees were engaged in fraudulent activities, “in one notorious instance, AT&T employees were found culpable for stealing personal information for over 200,000 customers and selling it to criminals to unlock mobile phones.’ Terpin has reported being victim to two hacks during a seven-month period while being an AT&T client and alleges that the hacks were made possible from an “insider cooperating with the hacker” who made possible access to his account without the required password or proof of identity. Terpin’s phone number was later used to access Terpin’s cryptocurrency accounts, according to the complaint.
“What AT&T did was like a hotel giving a thief with a fake ID a room key and a key to the room safe to steal jewelry in the safe from the rightful owner,” the filed complaint alleges.
As reported earlier by the Scope Weekly, bitcoin mining companies aren’t immune to hackers, and the value of crypto has fallen over 65% in the past few months.
The Scope Weekly has reached out to AT&T for further comments but at the time of publishing hadn’t heard back from the company. If new information is provided, we will update accordingly.
AT&T rejects all culpabilities and in an emailed statement to CNBC, said: “we dispute these allegations and look forward to presenting our case in court.”
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