A Pennsylvania woman alleged that fraudsters took over her T-Mobile account in a SIM swap and used access to drain nearly all the cryptocurrency in her Coinbase account. The complaint, filed in 2021, put the loss at roughly $20,000 when stolen. The court docket later recorded that the claims were sent to binding arbitration and that the federal case was dismissed with prejudice; it does not establish what happened in arbitration or whether T-Mobile was liable.
What is a SIM swap?
A SIM swap is an unauthorized takeover of a wireless account that redirects calls, texts, or other phone traffic intended for the subscriber’s device to a device controlled by someone else. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland used that definition in an October 2021 announcement about a separate criminal case. That case illustrated how redirected phone access can help perpetrators reach victims’ email and financial accounts and transfer cryptocurrency; it is not evidence about Kesler’s allegations or T-Mobile’s conduct in her case. DOJ description of the separate case.
How did the alleged SIM swap lead to cryptocurrency theft?
CyberScoop reported that Sima Kesler’s complaint alleged her phone stopped working at about 8:00 p.m. on May 2, 2020. By 9:12 p.m., she allegedly received an email from Coinbase saying someone had changed her password. The complaint said unknown fraudsters had gained control of her T-Mobile account and used that access to deplete virtually all the cryptocurrency in her Coinbase account. These are allegations reported from the complaint, not findings established by a court. CyberScoop’s June 4, 2021 report.
The complaint argued that T-Mobile failed to protect customer data despite prior attention to SIM swapping. CyberScoop reported that T-Mobile did not immediately respond to the reporter’s request for comment at the time of publication. That contemporaneous report is not a statement of T-Mobile’s current position or a response to the later arbitration proceedings.
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What happened to the $20,000 in cryptocurrency?
CyberScoop reported that the complaint put the cryptocurrency’s value at roughly $20,000 when it was allegedly stolen. The suit reportedly claimed it was worth more than $65,000 when filed on June 2, 2021. That second figure is the historical valuation asserted at filing—not a current valuation or an independently verified calculation. The reviewed docket listing does not say whether Kesler recovered any funds.
What happened in the lawsuit?
The action, Kesler v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:2021cv02516, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 2, 2021. The docket listing records this sequence:
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- August 24, 2021: The court ordered Kesler to submit her claims to binding arbitration under the terms in the order and stayed the court action pending arbitration.
- September 15, 2022: The docket records that the action was dismissed with prejudice pursuant to Local Rule 41.1(b).
The Justia docket listing, whose report was last retrieved September 15, 2022, records those procedural events. It does not state the arbitration outcome, a settlement, a recovery, or a judicial decision on whether the complaint’s allegations were true.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Did the lawsuit establish that T-Mobile was responsible?
No merits finding establishing T-Mobile’s responsibility appears in the reviewed docket listing. It records an arbitration referral and stay, followed by dismissal with prejudice under Local Rule 41.1(b). That court disposition does not, by itself, show what happened in arbitration or establish that a court decided the truth of the allegations.
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