- Veritaseum CEO Reggie Middleton is suing T-Mobile over numerous sim swap attacks that he says haw him lose $8.7 million in cryptocurrency in 2017
- Middleton says he was hacked on five separate occasions in 2017 and then again in 2018 and 2019
- Sim swapping allows hackers to access an individual’s device and as if it is their own
Veritaseum CEO Reggie Middleton has sued cell provider T-Mobile over several sim-swap attacks in 2017 that he says saw him lose $8.7 million in cryptocurrency. Middleton has taken T-Mobile to court over the hacks, which continued into 2018 and 2019 despite T-Mobile’s assurances that they would stop, in a claim that echoes the experience of other T-Mobile customers.
Veritaseum CEO Has Suffered “Severe Anxiety” Alongside Financial Losses
Veritaseum CEO Middleton states in the filing against the telecoms company that he “lost
$8.7 million in cryptocurrency and…suffered and continues to suffer severe anxiety, fear and emotional distress relating to the repeated instances of identity theft” as a result of the sim swap attacks that started in July 2017.
The filing attests that Middleton’s corporate Veritaseum and personal cryptocurrency addresses were accessed and drained through numerous sim swap attacks, in which individuals contacted T-Mobile pretending to be Middleton and asking that his phone number be ported to a new device. T-Mobile initially blocked these requests before eventually acquiescing, allowing hackers to gain access to his cryptocurrency fortune, which Middleton says was worth $8.7 million at the time.
This process happened on an incredible five separate occasions in 2017 alone according to Middleton, before further successful attempts in 2018 and 2019. As a result the Veritaseum CEO blames T-Mobile’s “failure to protect its customers’ highly sensitive personal and financial information” as the reason for his loss.
Sim Swap Hacks Nothing New
Sim swap attacks have become more common in recent years, with customers relying almost exclusively on the security protocols of their carrier to protect them. As we have seen with prior cases involving T-Mobile and AT&T however, these security protocols are severely lacking, allowing hackers to completely take over an individual’s device from anywhere on the planet.
Middleton is a few bucks short right now having settled with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last year over the Veritaseum ICO, which required him to hand over $8 million after the agency claimed it constituted an illegal securities sale. As well as wanting justice, this might also be behind Middleton’s actions.
