AT&T customers may get as much as $5,000 from $177 million breach settlement

Some AT&T customers affected by two major data breaches may soon receive payments of up to $5,000 after a federal judge gave final approval to a $177 million class action settlement.

The deal comes after two cybersecurity incidents exposed customer information and triggered a lawsuit that accused AT&T of failing to use strong enough safeguards for personal data.

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas approved the settlement, moving affected customers closer to compensation. AT&T has denied wrongdoing.

When could settlement payments go out?

The case centers on two separate breaches that AT&T disclosed in 2024. In the first, the company said customer information had surfaced in a data set released on the dark web.

In the second, AT&T said limited customer data had been illegally downloaded from a workspace hosted on a third-party cloud platform.

After the incidents, affected customers were allowed to file claims for compensation through the settlement fund.

The claim deadline has passed, so customers who did not submit a claim by then can no longer join the process.

Those who filed valid claims could begin receiving payments in the coming weeks.

If there are no appeals, the settlement is expected to take effect in the near future. Payments would then need to be sent within 60 days of that effective date, either electronically or by paper check.

That means eligible customers could receive money before the end of the year, though some payments may arrive later.

How much could customers receive?

The payout depends on which breach affected a customer and whether they documented financial losses.

Customers in the first class who showed losses from 2019 or later could receive up to $5,000. Those in the second class who documented losses on or after April 14, 2024, could receive up to $2,500.

Eligible customers also had the choice of asking for a pro rata share of the remaining settlement money instead of providing proof of losses.

Those payments will depend on how much remains after administration costs, legal fees, and other approved expenses are deducted.

The top payment amounts are not guaranteed, and each customer’s final award will depend on eligibility and the approved claim.

Customers who filed before the deadline can check claim status and find more details on the official Telecom Data Settlement website.

AT&T is not the only company that has been forced to compensate customers over concerns about how it handled personal information.

In a separate case, Facebook began sending out payments from its $725 million privacy settlement, with eligible users receiving an average of about $30 after filing claims.