Two Massachusetts men have been arrested and charged by United States law enforcement for their involvement in a $500,000 crypto theft using SIM swap hacks.
According to the release by the U.S. Department of Justice, two Massachusetts men were charged by the U.S. District Court in Boston with conducting an “extensive scheme” to take over victims’ social media accounts and steal their cryptocurrency. The report says the criminals were using “SIM swapping” and computer hacking methods to gain access to user accounts.
Eric Meiggs, 21, and Declan Harrington, 20, are both facing an 11-count indictment, with one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud, one count of computer fraud and abuse and one count of aggravated identity theft.
The indictment says Meiggs and Harrington allegedly targeted executives of cryptocurrency companies and individuals with significant amounts of crypto as identified through social media. Meiggs and Harrington were accused of using illegal “SIM swapping” hacks, which involves convincing a victim’s mobile provider to reassign their cell phone number to a different SIM card. Once obtained, criminals can use the number to access a client’s online accounts, including cryptocurrency exchanges.
According to the report, Meiggs and Harrington targeted at least 10 identified victims across the country, and allegedly stole or conspired to steal $500,000 in crypto.
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