Category Archives: SIM Swapping

Final defendant in multimillion-dollar SIM hijacking scheme sentenced to prison

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The sixth and final defendant in a gang accused of perpetrating a multimillion-dollar SIM hijacking case was sentenced to 10 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $121,000 in restitution, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday. Garrett Endicott, 22, from Missouri, was connected to a hacking group known as “The Community,” which engaged in a string of SIM hijacking incidents targeting individual users’ cryptocurrency exchange accounts in seven states, according to DOJ. SIM hijacking, or SIM swapping, is a technique where an attacker takes control of a target’s phone number, allowing the attackers to receive text messages and other forms of two-factor authentication protocols that are then used to log into accounts. The gang, known as “The Community,” faced charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Three people who worked for mobile phone providers and helped the gang were also charged with […]

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Suspect in scheme to breach major Twitter accounts is now charged with hacking crypto executives

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Federal prosecutors on Wednesday unsealed an indictment against a 22-year-old British man accused of stealing $784,000 in cryptocurrency from a Manhattan-based holding company. U.S. attorneys in the Southern District of New York say Joseph James O’Connor and his associates SIM-swapped three executives between March and May in 2019 at a company that maintained cryptocurrency wallet infrastructure for various international exchanges. SIM-swapping occurs when an attacker takes control of a victim’s phone number by linking the number to a device controlled by the attacker. CyberScoop could not immediately locate an attorney for O’Connor. The operation netted the group various amounts of litecoin, ethereum, and bitcoin totaling roughly $784,000. The indictment, originally filed on Aug. 25, charges O’Connor with conspiracy to commit computer hacking, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit money laundering. O’Connor — also known as “PlugWalkJoe” — was arrested in Spain in July after […]

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FCC Proposal Targets SIM Swapping, Port-Out Fraud

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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is asking for feedback on new proposed rules to crack down on SIM swapping and number port-out fraud, increasingly prevalent scams in which identity thieves hijack a target’s mobile phone number and use that to wrest control over the victim’s online identity. Continue reading FCC Proposal Targets SIM Swapping, Port-Out Fraud→

The FCC wants to force phone carriers to guard against SIM-swapping scams

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The Federal Communications Commission proposed rules Thursday aimed at curbing the threat of attacks in which cybercriminals use a victim’s personal information to steal their phone number and swap it into a scammer-controlled device, a technique known as “SIM-swapping” or “port-out fraud.” Specifically, the proposed rule would amend the rules regarding porting numbers from one account or phone to another to include a requirement that carriers “adopt secure methods of authenticating a customer.” The draft rule also proposes that careers be required to immediately notify customers of any request to swap or port-out their number. Scammers can use such access to reset or takeover other accounts, including social media profiles or financial accounts. The FCC did not publicly rlease the rules by press time Thursday. The agency declined to comment on how the rule will define “secure methods.” SIM-swapping can give cybercriminals more than access to vctims’ messages or calls. […]

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Europol nabs 106 criminals involved in SIM swapping, money laundering

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By Waqas
Europol said that the suspects carried out a number of cybercrimes included phishing, SIM Swapping, and BEC (business email compromise.) 
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Police say scammers who used email fraud, SIM swapping are connected to Italian mafia

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Police in Europe have arrested more than 100 people who allegedly stole more than $11 million in a years-long fraud operation that law enforcement officials have linked to an Italian mafia group. Officials in Italy and Spain arrested 106 suspects who are accused of using phishing, credit card fraud and other cybercrime techniques in conjunction with drug trafficking and property crime, according to the European law enforcement agency Europol. Thieves used business email compromise schemes and SIM swapping — in which scammers take control of a victim’s phone number to steal sensitive information — before laundering the funds via a network of shell companies and money mules, police said in a statement Monday. The bust is the latest evidence hinting at the extent to which established organized crime groups are adopting the methods typically used by hackers. While scammers are known to operate in loose crime rings in Russia, Nigeria […]

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Man Robbed of 16 Bitcoin Sues Young Thieves’ Parents

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In 2018, Andrew Schober was digitally mugged for approximately $1 million worth of bitcoin. After several years of working with investigators, Schober says he’s confident he has located two young men in the United Kingdom responsible for developing a clever piece of digital clipboard-stealing malware that let them siphon his crypto holdings. Schober is now suing each of their parents in a civil case that seeks to extract what their children would not return voluntarily. Continue reading Man Robbed of 16 Bitcoin Sues Young Thieves’ Parents→

Hacker pleads guilty to sim swapping, stealing cryptocurrency

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By Deeba Ahmed
A 21-year old hacker has admitted running a campaign over social media to hijack accounts of “high-value” account names and steal cryptocurrency.
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PlugwalkJoe Does the Perp Walk

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One day after last summer’s mass-hack of Twitter, KrebsOnSecurity wrote that 22-year-old British citizen Joseph “PlugwalkJoe” O’Connor appeared to have been involved in the incident. When the Justice Department last week announced O’Connor’s arrest and indictment, his alleged role in the Twitter compromise was well covered in the media.

But most of the coverage so far seem to have overlooked the far more sinister criminal charges in the indictment, which involve an underground scene wherein young men turn to extortion, sextortion, SIM swapping, death threats and physical attacks — all in a bid to seize control over highly-prized social media accounts. Continue reading PlugwalkJoe Does the Perp Walk→

Serial Swatter Who Caused Death Gets Five Years in Prison

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A 18-year-old Tennessee man who helped set in motion a fraudulent distress call to police that lead to the death of a 60-year-old grandfather in 2020 was sentenced to 60 months in prison today. Continue reading Serial Swatter Who Caused Death Gets Five Years in Prison→