T-Mobile Sued Over SIM Attack That Resulted in Loss of $450K in Bitcoin

[Oshosondy]

Please, what can be the cause of sim swap attack? In most cases the victim are not to blame, the organisations for providing the service have to be blamed. The attackers are from the insider, from the company. The workers from the company will make a deal with others criminals to steal our sim from us. See this deadly attack.

T-Mobile Sued Over SIM Attack That Resulted in Loss of $450K in Bitcoin
Through sim swap, over 15 bitcoin lost.

You can read the full true story from here: https://www.coindesk.com/t-mobile-sued-over-sim-attack-that-resulted-in-loss-of-450k-in-bitcoin

Let us make sure our sim is working all the time, if we notice anything like our sim is not working, let us call the service provider or immediately go to their office to block this sim and get you another one.

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[Tstar]

I hope that he will win the case and make T-Mobile pay!

I know at least two occasions, only in my finds circle, when mobile operators 'send lost SIM cards' to scammers.

[CryptocurencyKing]

Its always an inside job for things like this to occur even if they might claim to have been hacked of which this isn't that sort of situation. Without appropriate authorization, there can never be a sim swap hence, suing the organization was a right and the best choice. Its always an agreement between the agent and the scammer should the agent not be the scammer himself or herself.

Let us make sure our sim is working all the time, if we notice anything like our sim is not working, let us call the service provider or immediately go to their office to block this sim and get you another one.

Ensuring our sim is constantly functional is on thing but one cannot be all too conscious as there are times you can get too busy or all sleepy. Who knows, this could be the time for which this evil is being done as the scammer should have some personal experience with you to be knowledgeable of your account details and contact address (sim).

[Oshosondy]

I know at least two occasions, only in my finds circle, when mobile operators 'send lost SIM cards' to scammers.

Scammers will require for sim card of another person lying it is lost but not lost. This can likely be a collaboration between some workers in the company providing the sim card service and the criminals against the victim. Just as you said, I will also like the man to win the court case to be an example for the sim service providers to protect peoples sim by not sending it to scammers.

[Tstar]

I know at least two occasions, only in my finds circle, when mobile operators 'send lost SIM cards' to scammers.

Scammers will require for sim card of another person lying it is lost but not lost. This can likely be a collaboration between some workers in the company providing the sim card service and the criminals against the victim. Just as you said, I will also like the man to win the court case to be an example for the sim service providers to protect peoples sim by not sending it to scammers.

In most cases, scammers use social engineering to lure the support that they are the legal SIM owners and break your 2FA. Using your data from Facebook, IG, etc. - birthday, location, places you've been (with your phone in hand), etc.

[Oilacris]

I know at least two occasions, only in my finds circle, when mobile operators 'send lost SIM cards' to scammers.

Scammers will require for sim card of another person lying it is lost but not lost. This can likely be a collaboration between some workers in the company providing the sim card service and the criminals against the victim. Just as you said, I will also like the man to win the court case to be an example for the sim service providers to protect peoples sim by not sending it to scammers.

In most cases, scammers use social engineering to lure the support that they are the legal SIM owners and break your 2FA. Using your data from Facebook, IG, etc. - birthday, location, places you've been (with your phone in hand), etc.

This is possible!

Social engineering is something that can really be done.Some might say  that this wasnt effective but hey, this do really works without you being noticing that you are already falling
into their plans.We cant really cross out the possibility of inside jobs.

This is why i dont really have some trust when it comes to OTP level of security and im tending to add more some security layers or whatsoever that i can add.

[Daltonik]

Another case of fraud using the substitution of a T-Mobile sim card, a resident of Pennsylvania, Richard Harris, accused the telecommunications company T-Mobile of negligence, which led to the loss of 1.63 BTC due to SIM card substitution fraud. The plaintiff is seeking a jury trial, according to a document sent to the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Harris ' complaint says that T-Mobile failed to properly protect customer information and violated a number of federal laws. The plaintiff estimated the value of the lost assets at $55,000.
According to the lawsuit, Harris stored the cryptocurrency on the Coinbase platform. The exchange account was linked to a T-Mobile number. The claim can be found here: https://www.scribd.com/document/515894998/gov-uscourts-paed-586669-1-0#from_embed

[Lorence.xD]

Technically the company isn't at fault since it's an insider and it's not like T Mobile authorized the attack. There's a degree of fault for the company but everything should fall in the hands of the perpetrators more than anything else. I think the lawsuit is a good thing because that means that T Mobile has to answer as they share with the fault.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Here in India, I have heard about a great number of sim-swap attacks (although none of the cases involved cryptocurrency). Users have lost huge amounts of cash (obviously fiat) in these attacks. Now the mobile companies have introduced several precautions against this measure. For example, if you are de-activating your SIM card and getting another one with the same number, then it will be activated only after 24 hours. That means that you can't receive any SMS or calls for 24-hour duration. And in case the SIM swap is done through fraudulent means, then the victim has enough time with him to report the incident to the telecom provider and revert the process.

[Lucius]

The safest option is not to use your mobile number for anything related to cryptocurrencies, it has simply become too much of a risk if we see how easy it is to do a SIM swap. I was personally convinced of this when I changed my SIM card a few years ago in the physical office of one of the major EU operators - they didn't ask for my ID or old SIM card, but just ask my mobile phone number - and I experienced the same thing a couple of months ago months when I exchanged a SIM card for one member of my family.

Be smart and find another solution for 2FA, and also keep nothing more than a few hundred $ on crypto exchanges.

[ChiBitCTy]

SIM attacks have been a pretty worrisome issue of late.  I try and do everything I can to prevent my phone from falling in to the same fate that others recently have been.  This is also another stark reminder to not keep much bitcoin or cryptocurrency on your phone in hot wallets, utilize your paper and hardware wallets!  I am no Mr Robot, but a buddy of mine who is told me a big issue with SIM attacks is people using their phone numbers as their 2FA.  NEVER do this.  Use something else like an authenticator.

[20kevin20]

SIM attacks have been a pretty worrisome issue of late.  I try and do everything I can to prevent my phone from falling in to the same fate that others recently have been.  This is also another stark reminder to not keep much bitcoin or cryptocurrency on your phone in hot wallets, utilize your paper and hardware wallets!  I am no Mr Robot, but a buddy of mine who is told me a big issue with SIM attacks is people using their phone numbers as their 2FA.  NEVER do this.  Use something else like an authenticator.

Not only lately. It's been an issue for a long time, people have lost dozens or even hundreds of millions because of them. It's mind blowing how a "SIM swap" can happen simply over a phone call..

[Btcvilla]

things.like this very often happen to victims.by.scammers carried.out by irresponsible.people by exchanging.the sim card that we have or they are working with the company to start an.evil plan to trick.the victims.the user must.be aware.of this not to put your sim card phone number to start a business or tie up your account.using a phone number

[Fortify]

Please, what can be the cause of sim swap attack? In most cases the victim are not to blame, the organisations for providing the service have to be blamed. The attackers are from the insider, from the company. The workers from the company will make a deal with others criminals to steal our sim from us. See this deadly attack.

T-Mobile Sued Over SIM Attack That Resulted in Loss of $450K in Bitcoin
Through sim swap, over 15 bitcoin lost.

You can read the full true story from here: https://www.coindesk.com/t-mobile-sued-over-sim-attack-that-resulted-in-loss-of-450k-in-bitcoin

Let us make sure our sim is working all the time, if we notice anything like our sim is not working, let us call the service provider or immediately go to their office to block this sim and get you another one.

While I have sympathy with the victim, in some cases it can be the result of certain devices within their possession getting hacked - whether a smart phone, laptop or desktop PC. When I went to change my phone provider recently (which I imagine is similar to applying for a new or "lost" sim) the whole process was done via text message and through the provider website. So it might not even be an "insider" attack, but that would help immensely and I wonder how this will play out in the courts. If I had that sort of cash in Bitcoin I'd definitely spread it across a few different wallets with different devices as some sort of mitigation technique.

[rosenbauer02]

There must be some SOP to be made in every company to make sure that thing like this will not going to happen.

Anyway, how did the fraudster know that individual has a 15 bitcoin held in a wallet using his number as two-way authentication number? This must be some issue with the identity thief most likely coming from KYC. KYC is really dangerous so if you are a bounty hunter make sure not to disclose identities by doing KYC. They will just going to use your identity for scamming or becoming a victim like this.

[Twinkledoe]

While I have sympathy with the victim, in some cases it can be the result of certain devices within their possession getting hacked - whether a smart phone, laptop or desktop PC. When I went to change my phone provider recently (which I imagine is similar to applying for a new or "lost" sim) the whole process was done via text message and through the provider website. So it might not even be an "insider" attack, but that would help immensely and I wonder how this will play out in the courts. If I had that sort of cash in Bitcoin I'd definitely spread it across a few different wallets with different devices as some sort of mitigation technique.

Such amount is quite huge for ordinary crypto user. So it is really best to distribute your funds into different secured wallets. You'll never know what will happen to your service provider, so you should take appropriate contingencies before you lost your money. These days, hackers are using sophisticated softwares to attack vulnerable devices so it will not be the last. Better secure your funds while you can.

[stompix]

Technically the company isn't at fault since it's an insider and it's not like T Mobile authorized the attack. There's a degree of fault for the company but everything should fall in the hands of the perpetrators more than anything else.

62.
 

Plaintiff entrusted his sensitive private information, including, but not limited to, regarding his cryptocurrency holdings, to T-Mobile and reasonably relied on T-Mobile’sassurances of and its stated compliance with applicable laws, including (but not limited to) theFCA.63.
 Upon information and belief, including that ultimately provided by T-Mobile, on or around July 5 th, 2020, unknown individual(s) visited a T-Mobile store in or around Miami, Florida, where T-Mobile agents allowed and provided that individual(s) unauthorized access to plaintiff's account and SIM data, including CPI and CPNI. Plaintiff’s data was then transferred(or “ported”) to another electronic device and used to access Plaintiff’s information and telecommunications service

They allowed an unknown person with no ID to get access to that data, they didn't ask to store any information on the individual requesting this, they went with this even if they weren't sure the guy requesting this was the true owner of the service.
Who should be at fault here if not them?

If they would have requested an ID check none of this would have happened but they either didn't or they did the sim swap themselves or for somebody they knew, which makes all this even worse.

A telecommunications carrier may disclose CPNI to a customer who, at a carrier’s retail location, first presents to the telecommunications carrier or its agent a valid photo matching the customer’s account information.

They didn't obey the law, it's them who are to blame.
Imagine I would go to a bank and ask for 50k from an account without providing an ID, who would be more to blame, me or the cashier?

[cabron]

I'm not really understanding how the attack got his 15BTC. I would assume his BTC is stored in the exchange in which his SIM was copied and then accessed his exchange account through this SIM but this means also that he gives his email in the telegram conversation? This is why it's recommended not to store your BTC in exchanges especially the centralized.

[vv181]

Let us make sure our sim is working all the time, if we notice anything like our sim is not working, let us call the service provider or immediately go to their office to block this sim and get you another one.

As far as I know, using a mobile number as a medium for verification purposes is a bad security practice. The security hole for attackers to take an advantage of it is a lot.

I'm not really understanding how the attack got his 15BTC. I would assume his BTC is stored in the exchange in which his SIM was copied and then accessed his exchange account through this SIM but this means also that he gives his email in the telegram conversation? This is why it's recommended not to store your BTC in exchanges especially the centralized.

The transaction does not happen within an exchange.

54.Believing  the  proposed  transaction  to  be  a  legitimate  trade  with  a  principal  of Iterative,  Plaintiff  sent  fifteen  (15)  Bitcoin  to  a  digital  wallet  he  believed  to  be  controlled  by Buchanan and/or Iterative, expecting U.S. dollars in return to an account controlled by Plaintiff.

[ranochigo]

Most service providers are quite vulnerable to social engineering, and an experienced fraudster would be able to circumvent the security protocols quite easily, by collating the personal information of the victims.

Telegram offers an authentication ontop of the SMS OTP. Use it and you should be safe provided that your password is strong enough. I'm not sure what made the guy transact so much in Bitcoins, doing any transactions without another form of authentication is just bad in general. A typically case of something preventable, it was just a social engineering attack by masquerading as someone trusted.