In a wild tale of tech trickery, a crypto investor fell prey to a cunning SIM swap scheme back in 2018, orchestrated by a teenage mastermind and his slightly older accomplice. Picture this: A 15-year-old kid and his 21-year-old buddy managed to pull off a heist worth $24 million in crypto!
Fast forward to today, the plot thickens as the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has decided to reopen the case against telecommunications giant AT&T. Apparently, some of their employees got tangled up in the mischief, making it all too easy for the dynamic duo to swap SIM cards and breach Michael Terpin’s fortified crypto wallets.
Terpin, a big name in the crypto world and founder of BitAngels, was quick to act after discovering the breach. He tracked down the teenage perpetrator, Ellis Pinsky, who eventually returned $2 million of the ill-gotten gains. Not stopping there, Terpin also took on Nicholas Truglia, the 21-year-old accomplice, and won a whopping $75.8 million in court, along with an 18-month prison sentence for Truglia.
Terpin wasn't done with Pinsky either. When the young hacker turned 18, Terpin slapped him with a lawsuit demanding $71.4 million. They ended up settling for $22 million, and Pinsky agreed to spill the beans in the ongoing case against AT&T.
Despite a California judge initially dismissing most of Terpin’s claims, the Appeals Court has now reopened the case, giving Terpin another shot at claiming damages. While the court dismissed Terpin's hefty $216 million demand, he’s still gunning for $45 million from AT&T.
And if that wasn't enough drama, another crypto investor has also taken AT&T to court, claiming they played a part in a separate SIM swap scam that cost him $1.8 million in crypto. Looks like AT&T is in for a bumpy ride with these crypto capers!
