#Tintặc stole $794,000 worth of cryptocurrency from an exchange through the work of #hoánđổiSIM an executive.

Joseph O'Connor was sentenced to five years in prison in the United States for stealing $794,000 worth of cryptocurrency. Joseph O'Connor carried out the operation by swapping the SIM of an exchange executive in April 2019.

O'Connor was arrested in Spain in July 2021. He was then extradited to the US on April 26, 2023. In May, he pleaded guilty to a series of charges related to conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to launder money.

The prison sentence was contained in a June 23 statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. The statement states:

“In addition to the prison term, O'Connor was sentenced to three years of supervised release. At the same time, O'Connor must pay $794,012.64.”

The executive attacked by O'Connor has not been named. After swapping the SIM, O'Connor had access to the accounts and computer systems belonging to that exchange.

“After stealing and transferring the stolen cryptocurrency, O'Connor and his co-conspirators laundered the funds through dozens of transfers and transactions. Also exchange a portion for Bitcoin using cryptocurrency exchange services. Ultimately, a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency was deposited into O'Connor's account.”

The statement added.

O'Connor's sentence also includes Twitter hacks in July 2020. This case brought him and his accomplices about $120,000 in cryptocurrency.

Hackers swapped SIMs to take over about 130 prominent Twitter accounts. There are also two large accounts on TikTok and Snapchat. The statement also stated:

“They took control and launched a scheme to defraud other Twitter users. In other cases, they sold access to Twitter accounts to others.”

O'Connor attempted to blackmail the Snapchat victim. He threatened to publicly reveal the victim's private messages. From there, forcing them to post ads for his online character.

Additionally, O'Connor also "stalked and threatened" a victim. He "orchestrated a series of knife attacks" on the victim. He then falsely reported emergencies to the authorities.

SIM swapping is still a big problem

Bad guys take control of the phone number by linking that number to another sim card. This sim card will be controlled by them.

Criminals can reroute victims' calls and messages. Then transfer to a device controlled by them. They gain access to any victim's account using SMS-based 2FA .

They are often used to trick followers of prominent accounts. They will unfortunately click on phishing links. They will eventually steal their crypto assets.

SIM swapping attacks continue to be a growing problem in the cryptocurrency sector.

Earlier this month, blockchain investigator ZachXBT identified a group of scammers. They swapped the SIMs of at least 8 accounts belonging to famous figures in the field of cryptocurrency. These include Pudgy Penguins founder Cole Villemain, DJ and NFT collector Steve Aoki and Bitcoin Magazine editor Pete Rizzo.

This group stole nearly 1 million USD by promoting fraudulent links.