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A former employee of an AT&T store in Portland was yesterday sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for selling access to AT&T’s network to criminals who used customer PII to carry out SIM swaps.
Forty-four-year-old Kenneth Carter was sentenced in a Los Angeles U.S. District Court by Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, who also ordered him to pay nearly $100,000 in restitution.
According to court documents, Carter fraudulently reassigned existing cell phone numbers held by AT&T customers to a hacker, who then accessed their bank accounts and stole almost $600,000.
In March 2026, Carter pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.
Law enforcement searched his home in Portland in November 2019 and seized PII belonging to victims.
They also seized the PII of a victim who had $99,528 withdrawn from his bank account and fraudulently transferred to a Portuguese bank account controlled by Carter’s co-conspirators.
The PII of the victim included the cell phone number, the customer’s name, and Social Security number.
Three AT&T Portland Customers Had Almost $600,000 Illegally Withdrawn From Their Bank Accounts
Three victims were targeted in the operation, with a combined intended loss of at least $593,963. Carter admitted to investigators that in addition to the three victims, he had also performed SIM swaps on the accounts of other AT&T customers.
His employment with the company was terminated shortly after the police raid at his home.
‘SIM swapping’ involves reassigning a cell phone number held by a legitimate subscriber to a SIM card controlled by an illegal third party.
The process allows access to intercept two-factor authentication codes sent to the victim and to access the victim’s personal accounts.
Court documents reveal that Carter had participated in the scheme from May 2018 to November 2019, for which he and other co-conspirators received between $1,000 and $2,000 per SIM swap.
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