Woman Sues Phone Company Over $1.8 Million Bitcoin SIM Swap Scam
A British Columbia woman is taking Rogers Communications and a third-party kiosk operator to court after losing over half a million dollars in Bitcoin—now worth nearly $1.8 million—in a SIM swap scam back in 2021. Raelene Vandenbosch, a pharmacy manager, claims a hacker stole her crypto by convincing a store employee to hand over her account details.
The trouble started when someone posing as a Rogers technician talked a worker at a Match Transact-owned mobile kiosk in Montreal into sharing her account information. Vandenbosch wasn’t even in Quebec at the time—she was in B.C. But that didn’t stop the hacker from grabbing her data, transferring it to their own SIM card, and locking her out of her accounts. From there, they drained her Bitcoin holdings—12 BTC at the time, worth about $531,000.
Arbitration vs. Courtroom Battle
Vandenbosch sued in three provinces, accusing both companies of negligence, privacy breaches, and failing to protect her data. But the B.C. Supreme Court just ruled that most of the case has to go through private arbitration instead of a public trial. Justice Anita Chan said only the demand for a public admission of wrongdoing can move forward, calling it a matter of “public interest.”
The catch? If Vandenbosch pushes ahead and forces an admission of fault, she might not get a dime back. And Rogers isn’t backing down. A company spokesperson insisted they’re always tightening security but pointed out that “fraudsters use constantly evolving techniques.”
Should Old Contracts Apply?
Here’s where it gets messy. Vandenbosch signed an arbitration agreement with Rogers as part of her cell plan. But last March, B.C. changed its consumer protection laws to stop cell providers from forcing customers into arbitration. She argued the new rules should apply to her case, but the court disagreed—the changes aren’t retroactive.
A government spokesperson clarified: if a dispute wasn’t already in arbitration by March 31, 2025, old contracts can’t force it now. But since Vandenbosch’s case predates that, she’s stuck with the original terms.
For now, the case is headed to arbitration—unless she appeals. And with Bitcoin’s value still swinging wildly, the stakes keep climbing.
