Back in the day, creepy men known as Peeping Toms would lurk outside of unsuspecting women’s windows. In today’s modern-day world, this practice has evolved in a troubling way.
A new lawsuit filed by a Queens, New York woman alleges that a T-Mobile employee transferred nude photos from her phone to his when she traded it last September. Karen Mun says while inside the store on Northern Boulevard, the employee took her phone to a backroom to check her upgrade eligibility after obtaining her password. Once he resurfaced, Mun caught a glimpse of his unlocked phone, which contained all of her intimate photos. She confronted the man, and he admitted to stealing her images but refused to delete them.
Mun filed a lawsuit Thursday, claiming that her privacy was violated and T-Mobile failed to take action. She also slammed the company for being negligent in its hiring process and supervising staff. The lawsuit outlines several other examples where T-Mobile employees have stolen private photographs while servicing phones.
One instance was in November 2015, when a staff member with the company downloaded a couple’s sex videos as they waited to upgrade their phone. Another situation didn’t include graphic material. Instead, an employee stole customer banking info and accessed their bank account in December 2020. Despite countless cases such as these, T-Mobile has not done much to prevent them.
In Mun’s case, T-Mobile confirmed that the worker was fired but could not elaborate on what steps were taken to deter future picture thefts.
The lawyer representing Mun, Andrew Stengel, believes thousands of people have had their photos stolen by cell phone store employees without their knowledge across multiple companies. Back in January, an AT&T employee was arrested for stealing explicit images from a customer’s phone when she came into the store to swap devices.
