Coinbase faces lawsuit from US surgeon over hacker theft of $350,000 and repayment of debt

The physician from Indiana is suing Coinbase, saying that the cryptocurrency exchange’s lack of proper security procedures allowed hackers to steal about $350,000 worth of cryptocurrency.

The fact that Coinbase allegedly took the funds from the hackers to pay off the surgeon’s debts is even more worrisome.

The complaint was filed last week in San Francisco Superior Court by Dr. Ricardo Vasquez, a vascular surgeon based in Bloomington, Indiana. Claims against Coinbase include carelessness, unfair competition, negligence, breach of contract, and violation of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

According to the complaint, Coinbase enabled hackers to bypass all security safeguards and drain Ricardo Vasquez’s account without triggering any warnings or alarms, despite continuous assurances of sophisticated security technology and “bank-level” controls. Coinbase failed to notify the surgeon in a timely manner, and the surgeon claimed that gadget verification, two-factor authentication, and delays in password resets were insufficient to stop the hackers.

The San Francisco Standard reported that after converting his assets to ether, the hacking group reportedly carried out 217 transactions.

Coinbase had a $40,000 debt outstanding with Vasquez at the time of the breach. The hackers weren’t interested in deterring him; they were eager to deplete the account by paying off his bills. In Vasquez’s view, this shows that Coinbase is prioritizing its own interests above those of its customers.

“Before enabling the hackers to withdraw assets from the account, Coinbase engaged with, demanded, and accepted payments from them,” the lawsuit said. “To summarize, Coinbase addressed security concerns internally while disregarding potential dangers to its own clients.”

The doctor said that Coinbase’s support staff was useless. He had a hard time getting in touch with the firm, and when he did, he got automated messages or people hung up on him. Not to mention that he failed to raise any warning flags. It took weeks for someone from Coinbase to explain what happened to Vasquez, according to him.

Dr. Vasquez, a surgeon, is suing the Delaware-based cryptocurrency exchange because he claims to have lost $348,407 as a result of Coinbase’s hacking. The firm is also being sued for fees related to interest and legal expenses.

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