Md. Customer Sues Verizon for SIM Swap That Allegedly Took Place in Indiana

Verizon and Coinbase caused the theft of $452,000 belonging to a Verizon customer following a SIM swap at a Verizon Wireless store in Indianapolis, alleged plaintiff Bryan Volz’s complaint Wednesday (docket 1:24-cv-01416) in U.S. District Court for Maryland in Baltimore.

Verizon and Coinbase ignored Volz’s “repeated requests” before and during the theft of 120.280739 in Ethereum from the Forest Hill, Maryland, resident’s Coinbase account, alleged the complaint.

In December 2021, an unknown individual switched out the SIM card related to Volz’s Verizon account in Indiana, a transaction that can be authorized only by Verizon, said the complaint. Verizon “expressly permits its employees to conduct SIM card changes for its customers either remotely or in its retail stores,” it said.

At the time of the SIM swap, Volz was “locked out” of his Verizon account, which prompted him to “immediately reach out to Verizon” to determine the reason his account was locked, the complaint alleged. Volz was informed of the swap by a Verizon employee he was communicating with by phone and then went to a local Verizon store near his Maryland home. Despite Volz’s “prompt action,” the SIM swap moved his phone and Verizon account -- including incoming data, texts and phone calls associated with his account – to a phone controlled by the SIM swap perpetrator, it said.

As a result of the swap, Volz’s phone lost its connection to Verizon’s network, effectively locking him out of his account, the complaint said. He lost control over the account, which was then in control of the perpetrator, it said. The plaintiff regained control between noon and 12:30 p.m. that day, but the “compromise” of his Verizon account had already led to the cryptocurrency theft, alleged the complaint.

During the SIM swap, Verizon employees “not only accessed” Volz’s account and authorized changes to it, but they also “actively issued a SIM card for a cellular phone” not associated with his account, the complaint said. The employees did so even though he wasn’t present for the swap, his phone wasn’t present for it and his account address “was several hundred miles from the site of the swap,” it said.

While controlling Volz’s Verizon account, the perpetrator also controlled access and reset passwords for Volz's Coinbase account to “effectuate the Crypto Theft,” the complaint alleged. Volz has experienced “immense harm” from the SIM swap, including the compromise of “highly sensitive and confidential personal, legal, and business information” that has forced him to spend “significant sums of money” to attempt to recover the lost funds, it said.

Volz is charging Verizon with violating the Telecommunications Act and Maryland's Constitutional Right to Privacy and Consumer Protection acts; negligence; negligent hiring, retention and/or supervision; negligent misrepresentation; and breach of contract. The plaintiff sued Coinbase for negligence, negligent misrepresentation, violation of the California Civil Code, its Consumer Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Competition Law, plus breach of contract. Volz seeks punitive, compensatory, statutory and treble damages; restitution; disgorgement; attorneys’ fees; cost of suit; and interest.

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