Skip to main content

AT&T takes some of its former employees to court over alleged phone unlocking scheme

Back in 2013, a company called Swift Unlocks would have been one of your best bets if you wanted to unlock your AT&T-branded phone through the sales of unlock codes. How the company acquired these codes is at the center of an AT&T-filed lawsuit, which alleges it was an inside job, reports Ars Technica.

According to the lawsuit, former AT&T employees Marc Sapatin, Nguyen Lam, and Kyra Evans, who worked at an AT&T call center in Washington back in 2013, were approached by Swift Unlocks. Sapatin and Evans would be paid at least $10,000 by the company between April and October of 2013, according to Prashant Vira, who operates Swift Unlocks, so long as they agreed to install a remote access tool, which would allow Swift Unlocks to instantaneously have access to any unlock code.

Recommended Videos

AT&T first noticed some abnormalities when the carrier found out two call center employees saw an increase in unlock requests. AT&T was able to trace these requests to the three aforementioned former employees due to each making these unlock requests under their employee codes.

For his part, Lam was not given financial compensation, though AT&T alleges he installed malware on AT&T computers. Lam was subsequently fired from the company, while Sapatin and Evans left on their own accords.

Things didn’t stop there, however, as Sapatin allegedly tried to bring other AT&T employees into the fold, with Sapatin telling one employee “that she would make $2,000 every two weeks through her participation in the Unlock Scheme,” wrote AT&T. In addition, Sapatin, Lam, and Evans allegedly re-sold fraudulently unlocked phones, likely in an effort to pocket even more money from the scheme.

“We’re seeking damages and injunctive relief from several people who engaged in a scheme a couple of years ago to illegally unlock wireless telephones used on our network,” AT&T wrote in a statement. “It’s important to note that this did not involve any improper access of customer information, or any adverse effect on our customers.”

Nowadays, unlocking your phone is somewhat easier, given its recently-attained legal status, though you’ll have to jump through a number of hoops if your phone happens to have been purchased from AT&T.

The defendants in the lawsuit have 21 days to respond to the complaint, though the lawsuit did not divulge exactly how much in damages AT&T will seek.

Williams Pelegrin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…
My 1TB iPhone 14 Pro isn’t overkill — it’s the right version to buy
iPhone 14 Pro showing Settings iPhone Storage used.

For a long time, Apple’s iPhone lineup started at 64GB storage and capped out at 512GB. This stopped with the iPhone 13 series, with the base model iPhone 13 starting with 128GB, and the iPhone 13 Pro models even going up to 1TB. The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models continue this tradition. While Digital Trends’ own Mobile editor, Joe Maring, stated that most people could get by with just 128GB storage on their iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro, I’m here thinking absolutely not!

When Apple began offering 1TB of storage with the iPhone 13 Pro, that’s what I sprung for — and with so many good apps on the app store (here is our list of the best iPhone apps) I’m going to continue getting 1TB until Apple brings it up to 2TB. Here’s why.
I have (and take) a lot of photos and video

Read more
My favorite phone of 2022 didn’t come out this year — it’s from 2021
iPhone 13 Pro Max in hand.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, iPhone 14 Pro, OnePlus 10 Pro, Pixel 7 Pro, and many more – 2022 saw the release of plenty of amazing flagship smartphones. The iPhone 14 Pro did away with the notch, and the Galaxy S22 Ultra spoiled me with its industry-leading 10x zoom. Google finally got the hardware right with the Pixel 7 Pro, and Samsung made enough refinements to the Fold 4 for it to become my primary device.

But none of these could make the cut as my favorite smartphone of 2022. None of the 2022 flagships lasted as long as my iPhone 13 Pro Max. In fact, I had to charge the Galaxy S22 Ultra twice a day to keep my SIM in it.

Read more
It’s late 2022, and Verizon and AT&T still can’t beat T-Mobile’s 5G network
The T-Mobile logo on a smartphone.

It’s been 10 months since Verizon and AT&T flipped the switch on their new C-band 5G spectrum, but it appears both carriers still have their work cut out for them if they want to catch up to T-Mobile.

Market analyses and independent tests have agreed for years that T-Mobile is the fastest and most reliable 5G carrier in the U.S. That’s not surprising as it had a massive advantage by holding licenses for the crucial midrange spectrum that provides the best balance between range and speed. While Verizon’s early high-frequency mmWave rollouts allowed it to boast raw speeds that were significantly faster, those were confined to about 1% of its subscriber base.

Read more