Cybercriminals jailed for cryptocurrency theft, loss of life threats

On Wednesday, two Massachusetts males had been sentenced to greater than two years in jail every for stealing cryptocurrency in SIM swapping assaults and hijacking their victims’ social media accounts.

Of their assaults, Eric Meiggs and Declan Harrington focused people who doubtless owned vital quantities of crypto belongings in Coinbase or Block.io wallets (like cryptocurrency executives) or potential victims who managed high-value “Authentic Gangster” (OG) Instagram and Tumblr accounts.

“Meiggs and Harrington conspired to hack into and take management over these victims’ on-line accounts so they may get hold of issues of worth, comparable to cryptocurrency,” a DOJ press launch reads.

“They used an unlawful follow referred to as “SIM-swapping” and different methods to entry, take management of, and in some instances steal cryptocurrency from the accounts.”

Harrington and Meiggs had been charged in November 2019 for focusing on no less than ten victims in SIM swapping assaults and, in some instances, with loss of life threats.

The defendants each pleaded responsible to fees of crypto theft and hijacking victims’ social media accounts.

Whereas every defendant confronted a statutory most penalty of 20 years in jail for fees of wire fraud, Meiggs was sentenced to 2 years and at some point in jail and Harrington to 2 years and 7 days.

Dying threats, hacking, and cryptocurrency theft

In line with the court docket paperwork, they allegedly stole $200,000 value of cryptocurrency in a single go from an Arizona resident who “publicly communicated with cryptocurrency specialists on-line,” whereas $100,000 had been swiped from a sufferer in California with shut ties to somebody who “operated a blockchain-based enterprise.” 

One other $165,000 in cryptocurrency was stolen from an Illinois cryptocurrency venture chief. On the similar time, roughly $35,000 value of crypto belongings acquired looted from the Block.io cryptocurrency pockets of a Nevada sufferer who “owned a Bitcoin Automated Teller Machine community.”

Meiggs additionally referred to as a sufferer and threatened to kill their spouse whereas attempting to take management of the goal’s Instagram deal with, in response to the indictment.

The sufferer complied and adjusted the account’s profile title, permitting the scammer to take over the deal with.

Per the indictment, techniques and strategies allegedly utilized by the 2 defendants throughout their assaults embrace:

• Figuring out potential victims who doubtless had vital quantities of cryptocurrency and researching the potential victims utilizing on-line instruments.
• Participating in “SIM swapping” as a way to take management of victims’ mobile phone numbers.
• Leveraging the victims’ hijacked cellphone numbers to achieve unauthorized entry to their on-line accounts, together with e mail accounts, social media accounts, and cryptocurrency accounts.
• Utilizing their entry to victims’ accounts to take over and steal their account handles and their cryptocurrency.
• Promoting or in any other case transferring victims’ log-in credentials, account handles, and cryptocurrency.
• Utilizing victims’ hacked on-line accounts to ask for cash and cryptocurrency from victims’ mates and households.
• Utilizing a number of on-line accounts to cover their identities and evade detection by regulation enforcement.

The US Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) offers steerage on the best way to shield in opposition to SIM swapping assaults. The FBI has additionally issued an alert warning of elevated use of SIM swapping for stealing cryptocurrency.