British Columbia Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit against Freedom Mobile, following a SIM swap scam that allegedly led to the theft of over $60,000 in bitcoin from Surrey resident Sepehr Tahmasebpour.
The court ruled in favour of the telecom, citing a mandatory arbitration clause in the service terms which the plaintiffs claimed they were unaware of.
Tahmasebpour accused Freedom Mobile of negligence after a scammer, impersonating his father, obtained a new SIM card linked to his phone number. This incident reportedly occurred in January 2021 and resulted in the scammer gaining access to Tahmasebpour’s email and cryptocurrency accounts, subsequently draining them. Freedom was owned by Shaw at the time.
When he was skiing on Mt. Seymour in 2021, Tahmasebpour received two texts from Freedom that said his account email and PIN had been changed. That was when things took a turn for the worse. The day after, his bitcoin was drained from his Shakepay account after scammers reset his email password.
“This was caused by the grossly negligent actions and inactions of Freedom,” Tahmasebpour stated in a January 2023 notice of civil claim, reports CBC News.
To make matters worse? Freedom Mobile continued to bill Tahmasebpour after his account was taken over by the scammers, sending his $150 outstanding balance to collections.
The lawsuit sought over $63,000 for the value of the stolen bitcoin and additional damages, citing Freedom’s prior knowledge of such fraud risks due to police warnings and media reports. “Despite Freedom being armed with this knowledge, it failed to take reasonable and necessary steps to prevent a similar type of attack from occurring,” the claim noted.
However, Justice F. Matthew Kirchner of the B.C. Supreme Court decided to stay the negligence claims, highlighting an “arguable case” that the terms of service, including the arbitration clause, apply to both Tahmasebpour and his father. The court, however, allowed a smaller claim related to charges paid to a collections agency to continue.
Freedom Mobile said in a statement to CBC News, “Ensuring the security of our customers’ personal information is and will always be a priority for Freedom Mobile.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of a Freedom Mobile customer falling victim to SIM swap scams and losing their cryptocurrency balance. Back in March, a Toronto couple lost $140,000 in bitcoin after fraudsters took over their account at Freedom Mobile.
SIM swap scams are the worst thing that can happen to anyone. Wireless carriers need better protection for customers to ensure their accounts are secured, such as implementing mandatory two-factor authentication and other security measures.
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Wow….was that a judge or a lawyer on retainer from Freedom? Maybe I’m showing my ignorance here, but I thought this was a pretty strong case against the carrier.
So ZERO protection from any scammer requesting a SIM on your behalf????
That’s correct, you can type in a zero liability clause into your terms of service and absolve yourself from any possible liability, no matter how negligent.
Because of corruption in the West.
The US legal and judicial system has paved the way for Trump. A few weeks ago media in the USA (just for one day) plastered headlines everywhere “Corruption”. And that was it. Now it’s focusing on the protests at College Campuses instead. The part about corruption is nowhere. It’s like they were silenced.
Even less reason to use this company. Such garbage.
This can happen with any carrier. Not only Freedom.
Thanks for the gaslighting!
The entire Canadian and US judicial and legal system is corrupt. The end.
I went through the most difficult period ever as a result of this. It would have marked the end of me if experts on D E F T R E C O U P . C O M had not intervened on my behalf. It was truly the most traumatic period of my life and I still can’t erase it.