AT&T wins legal battle against crypto investor who fell victim to SIM swapping

A judge has ruled in favor of AT&T, dismissing crypto investor Michael Terpin’s claim for damages against the company.

Judge Otis Wright II ordered that Terpin is not entitled to recover damages from the telecoms firm, despite losing $24 million in a SIM swap attack in 2017.

$24 million in crypto stolen

In August 2018, the crypto investor filed a $224 million lawsuit against AT&T for negligence and fraud. Terpin blamed the company’s inadequate data record system for the theft of his digital assets.

Terpin specifically named SIM swapping as the method by which hackers could steal his crypto funds.

SIM swapping is the unauthorized control of a mobile phone account, enabling access to the victim’s information, including SMS text-based 2FA codes to access financial accounts.

Telecom employees are tricked into switching accounts to a new SIM under the hacker’s control. However, in some cases, employees knowingly cooperate with criminals for money.

Terpin sued AT&T for $224 million, contending that his losses were made possible only through an insider who provided unauthorized access to his phone account.

The sum comprised $24 million to cover the loss of his digital assets and $200 million for punitive damages.

In September 2020, Judge Wright II threw out the $200 million punitive damages claim, saying that the company’s policies did not offer any safeguards from third-party hacks. However, the judge authorized Terpin to proceed with his claim for losing his digital assets.

On March 28, the judge ruled in favor of AT&T, quashing Terpin’s claim to recover the remaining element of his case.

Investigators uncovered that Ellis Pinksky and 20 co-conspirators were responsible for orchestrating the theft of $100 million in cryptocurrency through SIM swap attacks. It was later revealed that Pinksky was only 15 years old at the time of stealing Terpin’s crypto.

SIM swapping

There appears to be a lack of comprehensive and up-to-date data on SIM swapping, particularly its prevalence.

In September 2020, the Guardian said SIM swapping has been on the rise since 2015, citing 483 cases to June 2020 versus just 144 cases in the whole of 2015. This relates to U.K.-based victims.

The FBI stated 1,611 SIM swap attacks occurred in 2021, netting attackers $68 million. However, from 2018 to 2020, the agency received 320 such complaints, with victims losing $12 million.