Tim represented several mobile
telephone account subscribers who have become victims of unauthorized
“SIM swaps” through their carriers. An unauthorized SIM swap occurs
when the subscriber identity module (or SIM) associated with a phone
number is tied to an account of a hacker without the permission of the
subscriber. When a SIM swap occurs, the hacker’s SIM becomes associated
with the subscriber’s account and the hacker receives the subscriber’s
telephone number.
Tim was one of a team of lawyers in a lawsuit for a cryptocurrency
investor against a telecommunications provider that resulted in a Ninth
Circuit landmark decision, Terpin v. AT&T Mobility, LLC, 118 F.4th 1102 (9th
Cir. 2024). In this case, the Ninth Circuit decided for the first time
that Section 222 of the Federal Communications Act (47 U.S.C. § 222),
which protects the privacy of customers’ communications, applies to the
information implicated in an unauthorized SIM swap.