BTC investor sues T-Mobile over alleged SIM swap fraud

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One of the largest cellphone carriers in the United States is facing yet another lawsuit by a digital currency investor over SIM swap fraud. T-Mobile failed in its duty to protect its users and resulted in the plaintiff’s loss of $55,000 worth of BTC, according to the lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania.

SIM swaps have been worryingly common in the digital currency industry, leading to the loss of millions of dollars in some instances. This is a crime in which a fraudster ports a victim’s number to a new SIM card, after convincing the cellphone carrier that he has lost his previous card. This gives the scammer access to a victim’s related accounts, including digital currency wallets. AT&T has been the main target for the SIM swap fraudsters, as CoinGeek reported.

T-Mobile faces the latest lawsuit for SIM swap fraud. The lawsuit was filed by Richard Harris at the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

“This action arises out of T-Mobile’s systemic and repeated failures to protect and safeguard its customers’ highly sensitive personal and financial information against common, widely reported, and foreseeable attempts to illegally obtain such information,” Harris states in the lawsuit.

He accuses the company of gross negligence in protecting customer information, negligent hiring and supervision of customer support personnel and violation of state and federal laws.

As a result, Harris claims to have lost 1.63 BTC which at the time of filing was worth over $55,000. He claims that his SIM was swapped on or about July 5, 2021. The fraudsters then accessed his Coinbase account where they withdrew his entire BTC stash.

The investor further claims that “T-Mobile failed to disclose or made deceptive statements designed to cover up for the fact that it is aware that their security procedures can and do fall short of their expressed and implied representations and promises, as well as their statutory duties.”

CoinGeek reported, a year ago, the mobile carrier was sued by Reggie Middleton, a digital currency investor who reportedly lost $8.7 million in digital currencies following a SIM swap. Aside from accusing the company of negligence, Middleton claimed he suffered “severe anxiety, fear, and emotional distress relating to the repeated instances of identity theft.”

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