(Credit: David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
T-Mobile customers can expect their data breach settlement checks to arrive as early as this week, according to a recent update on the carrier's status page.
"All court proceedings are now complete. The distribution of settlement payments is expected to begin in April 2025," T-Mobile says.
At issue is a 2021 data breach in which a hacker stole 106GB of customer data, including Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and driver’s license information of some former and current subscribers.
Around 76 million customers were affected, and a class-action lawsuit was filed in 2022. Without admitting any wrongdoing, T-Mobile agreed to settle the case for $350 million, making it the second-largest data breach settlement in the US.
The money will be distributed among customers based on the hours they spent to take preventive measures, such as freezing their financial accounts, after Aug. 1, 2021. The reimbursement rate was set at $25 per hour, and customers were asked to provide “reasonable documentation” to support their claim for out-of-pocket losses.
The deadline for claims was Jan. 23, 2023, and class members who made submissions were notified of their final payout by Oct. 22, 2024.
Customers who submitted a claim for out-of-pocket losses could receive as much as $25,000. Others who didn’t submit a claim but were affected by the breach could receive up to $25, according to The Hill. Those who lived in California at the time of the cyberattack might receive up to $100.
If you are unsure about your payout or need more information, you can contact the settlement administrator at 1-833-512-2314 or info@t-mobilesettlement.com.
After the cyberattack, T-Mobile vowed to spend $150 million to improve its data protection practices. In 2023, the FCC forced the carrier to add multi-factor authentication for all employees and implement a modern zero-trust model to bolster data security.