US crypto investor sues AT&T over digital token theft

Michael Terpin, a US cryptocurrency investor, has filed a $224m lawsuit against AT&T – his mobile phone service provider – accusing the telecoms company of gross negligence after the theft of digital tokens from his personal account.

AT&T accused of gross negligence in cryptocurrency theft

Terpin filed a complaint with the US District Court in Los Angeles stating that on 7 January, $23.8m worth of digital tokens were stolen from him through an alleged “digital identity theft” of his mobile phone account.

Punitive damages

In addition to his seeking to reclaim the $23.8m, Terpin is also sueing for punitive damages of $200m. The complaint said that AT&T had been previously contacted by law enforcement authorities about such alleged frauds.

AT&T responded to the allegations with a statement that said: “We dispute these allegations and look forward to presenting our case in court.”

SIM swap

The complaint alleges that the theft was the result of a so-called “SIM-swap” fraud, in which a service provider is tricked by fraudsters posing as the account holder into transferring the subscriber’s phone number to a SIM card controlled by the scammers.

The phone number can then be used to reset passwords and access online accounts.