AT&T Data Breach Payout—Who's Eligible And How To Make A Claim
AT&T has suffered two significant data breaches over the last few years and as a result, millions of customers can now file a claim for a payout of up to $7,500.
It comes after AT&T agreed to a $177 million settlement earlier this year. The first of the two breaches in question came to light in March 2024, when the details of 7.6 million AT&T customers and 65 million former account holders were found on the 'dark web' — the underground version of the internet where cybercriminals operate. The actual breach took place five years earlier in 2019.
The second, which AT&T admitted to in July 2024, saw nearly customers' data exposed via third party platform Snowflake in a 2022 incident.
A federal judge in Texas has now given approval for two settlement funds, for $149 million and $28 million.
AT&T denies the allegations and said it had agreed to the settlement to avoid costly litigation.
So who is eligible, how much do you get and how do you make a claim? Forbes Google Issues New Update Warning To 3.5 Billion Chrome Users By Kate O'Flaherty
You might have already received an email about the AT&T class action payout — in which case, you know you are eligible. It should come from the address attsettlement@e.emailksa.com, so check your junk mail too.
The first class action payout is for the March 2024 data breach and is labelled AT&T 1 Settlement class, according to the newly-set up settlement website. You can apply if your data — including names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, account passcodes, billing account numbers and social security numbers— was included in the breach.
Meanwhile AT&T 2 Settlement Class is for users whose information was involved in the 2022 incident. This includes phone numbers of current and former AT&T customers, as well as the numbers of those they interacted with, call durations and 'in a small number of cases, the cell site identification numbers associated with the interactions,' according to the website. Forbes What Is Tea, The Viral Women-Only App With 1 Million Downloads? By Kate O'Flaherty
How much you can claim in the AT&T class action payout depends on which settlement you are applying for, but the individual payouts could be hefty. For Settlement 1, you have two options: A documented loss cash payment of up to $5,000 for losses that occurred in 2019 or later; or a tier cash payment, which is a pro rata share of the AT&T 1 net settlement fund cash.
Just to complicate things more, there are two tiers for the latter payment. Tier 1, for AT&T 1 settlement class members who had their social security number exposed, includes a payment five times as large as tier 2, which is for people whose SSNs were not involved in the breach.
For AT&T 2 settlement class, the documented loss cash payment is up to $2,500 per person for losses that occurred on or after April 14, 2024.
Again, there is an option for a pro rata share of the AT&T 2 Net Settlement Fund cash.
I contacted AT&T for a comment and will update this article if the firm responds.
You will need to submit a claim form online by Nov. 18, or you can do so by mail to the address listed on the settlement website.
You can, of course, apply for both payouts at a total of $7,500, but you will need to file each claim separately. Forbes iOS 18—Here's Why There's A New Black Dot On Your iPhone By Kate O'Flaherty
Note that in both cases, you need to be able to prove you were affected by the AT&T data breach, including any losses you incurred as a result.
A final approval hearing has been set for Dec. 3, after which the settlement payments will start to be sent out, so expect to see your money around the start of 2026.
With payouts of up to $7,500 per person, the AT&T data breach settlement shows the real impact of people's data being exposed online. Yet for customers whose details were exposed, the genie is already out of the bottle. When it's sensitive information such as your social security number, the AT&T class action payout might not seem so large.
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