T-Mobile confronts a legal storm as a new lawsuit alleges the theft of explicit images by an employee, mirroring previous accusations against the wireless giant.
TWC Magazine – In a disturbing recurrence of privacy breaches, T-Mobile is entangled in another lawsuit, accused of failing to safeguard sensitive consumer data. The latest legal action was initiated after an employee at a T-Mobile retail store allegedly pilfered explicit images from a customer’s phone during a routine trade-in. This unsettling incident closely echoes at least eight prior cases lodged against T-Mobile, as court records and news reports revealed.
The lawsuit, filed in a Washington state court, contends that T-Mobile neglected to train its retail staff adequately and disregarded employees, exploiting their access for data theft, often under the pretext of assisting customers with repairs and data transfers.
The legal document states, “For almost a decade, T-Mobile customers across the United States have regularly reported instances of retail store employees stealing their intimate videos, explicit photos, and bank accounts.” Despite such recurring complaints, the suit alleges that T-Mobile has failed to implement basic security measures, both hardware and software, to shield consumers from potential data and privacy exploitation during routine transactions.
T-Mobile has yet to respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
The plaintiff, identified as “Jane Doe” in the complaint, recounts visiting a T-Mobile store at the Columbia Center Mall, approximately 200 miles southeast of Seattle, last October. She aimed to upgrade from an iPhone XS Max to an iPhone 14 Pro Max. During the data transfer process, the employee entrusted with her old device discovered and subsequently sent explicit images and a video of Jane engaging in intimate activities with her partner via Snapchat.
Assuming her data had been wiped post-transfer, Jane Doe discovered the breach by observing the images sent to an unknown account on her Snapchat. Subsequent police investigation traced the unauthorized history back to the T-Mobile employee.
The lawsuit further reveals that, even as Jane sought assistance at the T-Mobile store, the unauthorized individual accessed her social media accounts on the old iPhone XS Max. The incident underscores the urgent need for heightened security protocols within the wireless industry. It intensifies the scrutiny of T-Mobile’s data protection practices in the face of mounting pressure from legislators demanding more robust measures to safeguard customer information.