Two Arraigned in the US for Cryptocurrency Fraud Involving Social Media Hacking

The United States Department of Justice, on the 14th of November, has apprehended and arraigned two people (Eric Meiggs and Declan Harrington) for breaking into unsuspecting victims’ social media accounts and making away with cryptocurrency. The culprits were prosecuted with one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud, one count of computer fraud and abuse and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Elaborate Crypto Hack Method
The culprits, both residents of Massachusetts, prey on execs of cryptocurrency establishments who they believed had substantial sizes of cryptocurrency and possess valuable social media accounts.

The culprits were said to use SIM swapping (an illicit practice) to hijack the victim’s social media account, which grants the culprits entry to the private data of the victims from which they can make away with cryptocurrencies.

SIM swapping is a means of conning telecommunication service providers into sending the victim’s mobile digit to a SIM card possessed by the assailant. SIM cards can be purchased on eBay and placed into a burner cell. After the mobile digit has been received, the assailant can choose to change passwords for services like crypto wallets and email accounts.

Law enforcement agencies have acknowledged that this hack is quite extraordinary considering how easy it is to carry out.

Based on the charges, the assailants focused on about 10 unfortunate victims across the US and reportedly stole about half a million dollars in crypto from the said victims.

Another Case of Crypto Scam
In November, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and prosecutors for the Southern District of New York arraigned a man for carrying out a crypto Ponzi known as ‘Igobit’. The culprit was said to redirect funds originally allotted for investment, into funding his expenses like travel, luxurious dining, shopping and a lot more.