SIM Swap Victim at Crossroads After Failed Lawsuit Against AT&T

Last year, CoinStaker reported on the lawsuit filed by Michael Terpin against AT&T. Terpin claimed that the mobile giant misused his personal information, which resulted in hackers stealing over $24 million worth of crypto from his accounts.

Who would have thought that an ordinary person suing a mega corporation would have no results? Terpin, like many others, tried to go against something way bigger than himself and failed.

Even though it looks like there is no hope for retribution for AT&T, Terpin decided to try his luck and write an open letter to the United States Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai.

In the open letter, Terpin requested that the regulator takes more decisive action against SIM swap attacks. He also proposed to force all United States mobile carriers to hide customer pins and passwords from employees and require from them to inform customers that they can opt-in to carrier high-security plans.

Terpin seems to be very serious about stopping SIM Swap attacks

According to Terpin, this should also include a “no port” option, which means that a consumer would have the choice of going to the fraud department before his SIM information gets ported to a new device.

SIM swapping is basically a very commonly seen occurrence where the provider somehow transfers the victim’s phone number to a SIM card held by the attacker. In most cases, the SIM cards are bought on eBay and plugged into a burner phone. It usually takes the attackers no more than 10 to 15 minutes after the phone number is transferred to reset passwords for crypto wallets and email accounts.

It was recently revealed that Sim swapping has become increasingly popular in California and the police have finally put the attack on its “high priority” list.

Terpin stated that over 50 victims of SIM swapping have reached out to him after hearing about his losses. He revealed that every single one of them has sustained significant financial losses.

Last year, Terpin filed a lawsuit for $224 million against AT&T. He presented indisputable evidence that company employees have provided the attackers with his phone number. A few months ago, all of his claims were magically dismissed as the judge said that Terpin “fails to sufficiently allege proximate cause”.

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