According to the press release by the US Department of Justice, fraudsters in the US are using various methods. cryptocurrency did the fraud.
Two people from Massachusetts were sentenced to prison for “an extensive scheme to hijack victims’ social media accounts and steal their cryptocurrencies using techniques such as SIM swapping.”
“Scammers Try to Bypass Two-Factor Authentication for Entry to Cryptocurrency Exchanges with Sim Swapping Method”
Eric Meiggs, 24, was sentenced to two years and one day in prison, and Declan Harrington, 22, was sentenced to two years and seven days.
The FBI arrested Meiggs and Harrington in 2019. Meiggs pleaded guilty to each of seven charges in 2021, in which he was charged with fraud, phone fraud, computer fraud and abuse, as well as aggravated identity theft.
The initial claim was that the duo was trying to steal more than $550,000 in crypto. The latest announcement says the duo stole “about $330,000 in cryptocurrencies” by targeting “at least 10 identified victims.”
The announcement stated that Meiggs and Harrington “targeted executives of crypto companies and possibly others who own substantial amounts of crypto and have high-value social media account names.”
SIM switching is a way to bypass two-factor authentication by using mobile operators to enter sensitive websites such as crypto exchanges and online banking. Many people in the cryptocurrency world have been victims of SIM swapping.
In 2022, there has been an increase in fraud and hacking events in the crypto world.
*Not investment advice.
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