Coinbase/Gemini TMobile Sim Swapping HowDoIHummus

Notice: This page is a freshly imported case study from the original repository. The original content was in a different format, and may not have relevant information for all sections. Please help restructure the content by moving information from the 'About' section to other sections, and add any missing information or sources you can find. If you are new here, please read General Tutorial on Wikis or Anatomy of a Case Study for help getting started.

Notice: This page contains sources which are not attributed to any text. The unattributed sources follow the initial description. Please assist by visiting each source, reviewing the content, and placing that reference next to any text it can be used to support. Feel free to add any information that you come across which isn't present already. Sources which don't contain any relevant information can be removed. Broken links can be replaced with versions from the Internet Archive. See General Tutorial on Wikis, Anatomy of a Case Study, and/or Citing Your Sources Guide for additional information. Thanks for your help!

TMobile

Reddit user HowDoIHummus suffered a sim swapping attack in March 2021, where an attacker was able to take $10k of their assets out of their CoinBase and Gemini accounts. They do not appear to have recovered their funds. They were sim swapped again in May 2021, although no funds were taken in that case.

This exchange or platform is based in United States, or the incident targeted people primarily in United States.

About Coinbase/Gemini

"Both Coinbase and Gemini were attacked." "They got access to about $10k in crypto as well as 3k in cash via PayPal, and said they “opened” an investigation." "T mobile has yet to provide any information regarding the previous sim swap nor my funds that were lost specifically due to their negligence."

"Fast forward to [May]. I got a bunch of email notifications of changed passwords. I caught it right away and because I was using my phone when the service disconnected and immediate has a flashback to the previous occurrence. I set up secondary recoveries and recovered all of my accounts quick enough for nothing to happen, and removed 2fa from all of them. My wife comes home and I find out all the phones on my lines are off. I go to log into my account via WiFi and can’t access it via phone number so I used the recovered email. Not only did t mobile allow a second sim swap, but after calling and being on the phone with a rep for two hours, they allowed all of my phone numbers to be removed from my account and my t mobile account is now completely empty. The rep said there is no history of anything changed on the account, nor a representative being attached to what was done. Now my phone number, which I used to save myself from the attempted credit account openings is gone, and I won’t be able to check where they try to open accounts, nor will I be able to recover certain accounts that were 2fa only. I’m tech savvy, and I truly do not understand what happened here. I’m pretty sure I’m moving on from this carrier, and I am looking into possible legal action for this situation, but I’m not sure where to start. All of this is happening specifically because of the negligence of T Mobile as a whole, so I’ll start there."

This exchange or platform is based in United States, or the incident targeted people primarily in United States.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Coinbase/Gemini TMobile Sim Swapping HowDoIHummus

Date	Event	Description
February 9th, 2021 12:10:31 PM MST	HEX Is Up	He is "currently a happy boy" because his HEX is "over 1b".
February 11th, 2021 1:19:22 PM MST	Reddit Comment	HowDoIHummus gives advice to "Always be buying. Buy MORE on the dip".
May 9th, 2021 8:03:20 PM MDT	Reddit Post	HowDoIHummus posts again on Reddit about their experiences after a second sim swap happens even after setting up specific instructions requiring physical presence and ID in the store.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $10,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.