An investor from California has filed a $224-million lawsuit against AT&T, alleging the company was negligent in allowing hackers to steal about $24 million worth of cryptocurrency from him, as CNBC reports.
The complaint, filed by Michael Terpin in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, accused the telecommunications behemoth of “willing cooperation with the hacker, gross negligence, violation of its statutory duties, and failure to adhere to its commitments in its Privacy Policy.” Terpin is the co-founder an angel group for bitcoin investors called BitAngels, as well as a digital currency fund called BitAngels/Dapps Fund, according to CNBC.
Terpin, who was using AT&T as his service provider, said the digital tokens were stolen through a “digital identity theft” of his cellphone account. Terpin was the victim of two hacks within seven months.
After the first hack, Terpin alleged that an impostor was able to get his phone number from an “insider cooperating with the hacker” without an AT&T store employee requiring him to show valid identification or provide a required password. That phone number was later used to access Terpin’s cryptocurrency accounts, according to the complaint.
The complaint compares AT&T’s alleged culpability in the crypto theft to “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.”
AT&T said, “we dispute these allegations and look forward to presenting our case in court,” in an emailed statement to CNBC.
Terpin wants to AT&T to pay $200 million in punitive damages and $24 million of compensatory damages.
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