Bitcoin Investor Sues AT&T Following Mobile-Linked Theft

A bitcoin financial investor has sued media communications goliath AT&T for $224 million following losses of a huge number of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency in a theft he blames on the cellular provider.

California resident Michael Terpin has filed a 69-page complaint against AT&T in U.S. Locale Court in Los Angeles, where he claims losses of about $24 million worth of cryptocurrency following the cellular service provider’s carelessness in allowing a hacker to get the unauthorized access to his cell phone contact.

Terpin, who in 2013 helped to establish an angel investment group known as BitAngels and also was part of the Dapps Venture Fund says that someone partnering with the hacker imitated him and persuaded an AT&T store representative to give them access to Terpin’s telephone number without expecting him to bring legal ID or give the PIN code to Terpin’s record.

“AT&T’s willing cooperation with the hacker, gross negligence, violation of its statutory duties, and failure to adhere to its commitments in its Privacy Policy,” he said in the complaint. “What AT&T did was like a hotel giving a thief with a fake ID a room key and a key to the room safe to steal jewelry in the safe from the rightful owner.”

Terpin is looking for $200 million in disciplinary damages from AT&T in addition to the $24 million he lost in the theft.

AT&T claimed that it denies the accusations and “look forward to presenting our case in the court.”

Be that as it may, this situation has shone a light on the dangers associated with SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) which still leaves users at risk of SIM-card attacks.