Crypto 'SIM swap' victims sue AT&T and T-Mobile

Cryptocurrency-focused law firm, Silver Miller, filed arbitration claims against AT&T and T-Mobile on behalf of their clients who were victims of SIM swapping hacks.  SIM swapping is a service provided by all telecommunication companies that allow customers to reassign their user accounts and phone contents onto another phone for legitimate reasons such as a damaged SIM card or switching to another network provider. An employee of telecommunication firm must authorize a SIM swap.   

However, there are cases where criminals were able to convince telecommunications firm employees to SIM swap without verifying that they are indeed the owner of the account. A SIM swap hack enables criminals to access their victim's two-factor authentication codes which can be used to log into major cryptocurrency exchanges. One of Silver Miller's clients, an AT&T customer, had over $621,000 of cryptocurrency stolen through the SIM swap method. AT&T had previously "assured him it had increased security on his account following an earlier attempted hack," according to Silver Miller. Two other clients had lost $400,000 and $250,000, respectively, and had filed suits against T-Mobile.  

(Source: CoinDesk)