AT&T customers may get up to $7,500 after data breaches; find out if you’re eligible

After two data breaches in recent years, which exposed personal information of AT&T customers, the company is expected to dish out a settlement pay out.

U.S. District Judge Ada Brown granted preliminary approval to the terms of two proposed settlement funds from AT&T, according to court records filed on June 20. This move aims to resolve class action lawsuits stemming from two data incidents that exposed personal information of AT&T customers.

AT&T intends on starting the claim process on Aug. 4, according to CNET.

The settlement includes a $149 million fund for a data incident related to a dataset from 2019 or earlier, which AT&T confirmed in March 2024.

A separate $28 million fund is designated for another AT&T data incident which occurred in April 2024.

The total settlement payment across both incidents is $177 million, the records state.

While AT&T admitted no wrongdoing in these events, the company confirmed their decision to settle.

“While we deny the allegations in these lawsuits that we were responsible for these criminal acts, we have agreed to this settlement to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation,” AT&T told MassLive. “We remain committed to protecting our customers’ data and ensuring their continued trust in us.”

The 2019 data incident, discovered on the “dark web” in March 2024, contained information for approximately 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders at the time.

This data exposed sensitive information such as full names, email addresses, mailing address, phone numbers, dates of birth and AT&T account numbers.

The 2024 data incident, which became publicly known around July 2024, involved a third-party cloud data platform (reportedly Snowflake), which exposed call and text records for nearly all AT&T customers between May 2022 and October 2022 and some records from January 2023. About 109 million U.S. customers were involved, according to CNET.

Customers impacted by either incident will receive notices via email and/or written notification that will include instructions on how to file a claim.

The deadline to opt out or object to the settlements will be Oct. 17, the records state. The deadline to submit claim forms is Nov. 18 of this year. Payments are expected to commence in early 2026.

The highest payments for those impacted by the first breach are $5,000, CNET reported. The top payment for the second breach is $2,500. Remaining funds would then be distributed to others who were impacted.

A final approval hearing for the case has been set for Dec. 3.

AT&T did not respond to MassLive’s request for comment.