Man Sues T-Mobile After Hackers Loot His Cryptocurrency Account
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Bitcoin Global News (BGN)
February 28, 2018 -- ADVFN Crypto NewsWire -- On February 4th a
Seattle man filed suit against T-Mobile over an incident that
started on November 7, 2017 when he noticed that his phone had
restarted and been wiped of information, and then realized that he
could not access the T-Mobile network.
The man, Carlos Tapang, contacted T-Mobile and found that his
phone number had been transferred to AT&T. T-Mobile was able to
get the phone number back the next day. But, in the meantime, while
the thieves had access to his phone number on a new device they
were able to request a password changes on his Google and Microsoft
accounts and, with information found there, login to one of his
cryptocurrency accounts and drain it.
Tapang’s suit against T-Mobile claims that:
-
T-Mobile’s lack of adequate security improperly allowed
wrongdoers to gain control of his phone number on November 7,
2017.
-
T-Mobil failed to add a promised PIN code to Tapang’s account
prior to the incident.
-
The hackers called T-Mobile customer support repeatedly and
eventually tricked an agent into cancelling Tapang’s account and
transferring his phone number to a new AT&T device under the
hackers’ control, without requiring “secret question and answer”
full identity verification.
-
After gaining control of Tapang’s phone number on a new device,
the hackers were able to change the password on one of Tapang’s
cryptocurrency accounts, exchange 19.6 BitConnect coins and 1,000
OmiseGo (OMG) tokens for 2.875 Bitcoin, and then transfer the
Bitcoins out of his account. (BitConnect collapsed recently due to
a likely Ponzi scheme, but what matters here is the value of the
coins when they were stolen)
-
After being notified of the security breach, T-Mobile was unable
to get the number back from AT&T until the next day.
-
T-Mobile had warned customers about identity theft scams that
involve transferring a phone number to another carrier, and had
encouraged customers to create a PIN passcode, which Tapang had
tried to do.
-
Other T-Mobile customers had complained online about similar
phone porting scams, one alleging a similar Bitcoin-related
heist.
As a result, Tapang’s lawsuit:
-
Accuses T-Mobile of failing to train its employees to prevent
the identity theft schemes.
-
Alleges that “As a result of this breach of security, Mr.
Tapang’s exchange account was subjected to unauthorized transfers;
he was deprived of his use of his cell phone number and required to
expend time, energy, and expense to address and resolve this
financial disruption and mitigate the consequences; and he also
suffered consequent emotional distress.”
-
Asks for damages, noting that the price of Bitcoin was $7,118 on
November 7th, so an immediate cash out by the hackers would have
netted $20,466 USD.
-
Asks for injunctive relief, which could result in an order that
T-Mobile strengthen its call center anti-number-jacking
security.
Tapang is the founder of Pure Money Technology, a company that
helps merchants accept and process purchases made with
cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrency exchanges can prevent phone number porting hacks
by eliminating two-factor SMS authentication for online wallet
access and, instead, routing authentication through proprietary
software. Exchange members have control of their physical devices,
but their assigned phone numbers are in the control of their
carrier.
By: BGN Editorial Staff
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