A Canadian woman sues after losing $1.3 million in Bitcoin due to a SIM-swap scam

ChainCatcher news, a Canadian pharmacy manager Raelene Vandenbosch lost 12.58 bitcoins in a multimillion-dollar SIM card swap scam, now worth about $1.36 million. She has filed a lawsuit against telecom company Rogers Communications and Match Transact Inc., blaming this devastating loss on a security lapse by a mobile store employee.

Vandenbosch claims that a scammer impersonating a technician convinced the store employee to share their computer screen, allowing hackers access to the Rogers customer database. Subsequently, the hackers gained access to her cryptocurrency wallets on Ledger and Shakepay, stealing all bitcoins worth approximately $392,704.61 at the time. Vandenbosch is suing for negligence, invasion of privacy, and breach of contract.

Both Rogers and Match have neither admitted nor denied the allegations but instead argued for resolving the dispute through private arbitration. A recent ruling by the British Columbia Supreme Court mandated that most of the case must go to arbitration, but allowed Vandenbosch to publicly acknowledge the claims of misconduct in open court as an exception.