If you were affected by two significant data breaches involving AT&T customers, you may be entitled to a share of a $177 million settlement that has recently received preliminary court approval.
Two lawsuits were filed against AT&T concerning the data breaches. According to court documents, a federal judge in Texas has granted preliminary approval for two settlement funds related to the breaches: one amounting to $149 million and another to $28 million.
In March last year, AT&T confirmed that data found on the “dark web” included Social Security numbers for about 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. This breach began in 2019, as reported by CNET. Later in July, AT&T announced that nearly all customer data had been downloaded to a third-party platform during a 2022 security breach.
“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 Nexstar via email. “We remain committed to protecting our customers’ data and ensuring their continued trust in us.”
While you, as a current or former customer, may be included in the settlements, you’ll also need to prove that you suffered damages because of the breaches.
Citing court documents, USA Today and CNET report that the highest payments for those impacted by the first breach are $5,000. For the second breach, the top payment is $2,500. Remaining funds would then be distributed to others who were impacted.
A settlement website is set to be established in early August, which is when you’re likely to be notified of your potential qualification for payment. Those impacted are expected to be notified via email or postcard, court documents show.
The deadline to opt out or object to the settlements, according to court documents, will be October 17, 2025. The deadline to file a claim is set for November 18, 2025.
A final approval hearing in the case has been set for December 3, 2025. It will still take some time after that date for settlement payments to be dispersed, but a spokesperson for AT&T told Nexstar that payments are expected to be issued early next year.
This marks one of the larger announced settlements within the last year. Others include a $95 million settlement reached with Apple over allegations that its virtual assistant, Siri, was snooping on users, and a $100 million settlement with Walgreens over allegations that the pharmacy chain overcharged for generic drugs.
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it would be sending out nearly 970,000 payments totaling over $126 million — with an average refund of about $130 — following allegations that Fortnite duped young players into making unwanted purchases.
Those who purchased a video game from the GameStop website between August 18, 2020, and April 17 of this year have until August 15 to submit a settlement claim in a class action lawsuit filed in New York. The suit alleges that GameStop shared customers’ information to Facebook without consent. Nexstar’s WPIX reports the settlement fund totals $4.5 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
