California Man Losses $1.8M In Crypto From AT&T Accounts-Files Lawsuit

California Man filed a lawsuit against the wireless service giant AT&T alleging that the employees helped to initiate a sim-swap scam which resulted in the theft of more than $1.8 million in total including cryptocurrencies and more about it we read in the Altcoin news today.

Seth Shapiro filed a lawsuit on October 17^th where he claims to be a two-time Emmy Award-winning media and technology expert, author and adjunct professor at the University Of Southern California School Of Cinematic Arts. The Lawsuit alleges that between May 16 and May 18 AT&T employees transferred access to his mobile phone to outside hackers:

 “AT&T employees obtained unauthorized access to Mr. Shapiro’s AT&T wireless account, viewed his confidential and proprietary personal information, and transferred control […] to a phone controlled by third-party hackers in exchange for money. […] The hackers then utilized their control over Mr. Shapiro’s AT&T wireless number […] to access his personal and digital finance accounts and steal more than $1.8 million.”

The document also states that the actions allowed the hackers to access Shapiro’s personal accounts on multiple crypto exchanges:

“While third parties had control over Mr. Shapiro’s AT&T wireless number, they used that control to access and reset the passwords for Mr. Shapiro’s accounts on cryptocurrency exchange platforms including KuCoin, Bittrex, Wax, Coinbase, Huobi, Crytopia, LiveCoin, HitBTC, Coss.io, Liqui, and Bitfinex.”

The plaintiff also claims to own chat logs where the AT&T employees and hackers discuss how the stolen money should be routed and how much they should split. The California Man also claims that he fell victim to SIM-swapping multiple times and his personal information and online accounts have already leaked in the past. He also stated in the lawsuit:

 “AT&T’s Repeated Failures to Protect Mr. Shapiro’s Account from Unauthorized Access Are a Violation of Federal Law.”

More specifically, Shapiro alleges that AT&T violated the Federal Communications Act for failing to protect the confidentiality of his account information. He also claims that the telecom giant violated multiple California state laws including the Unfair Competition Law and the Constitutional Right to Privacy and the Consumers Legal Remedy ACT. Lastly, Shapiro accuses the company of two acts of negligence.