Turkish authorities recently arrested a gang of cryptocurrency hackers for hacking victims’ digital currency wallet via sim swap.
Sim Swapping Cryptocurrency Syndicate Busted
The Turkish authorities recently arrested a group of eleven suspects involved in a virtual currency hack via sim swapping. According to Trustnodes, the sim swapping digital currency syndicate hacked victims’ cryptocurrency wallet by deceitfully obtaining their phone numbers from a phone company.
A joint raid saw the detention of ten out of the eleven suspects. However, the police released the remaining suspect on bail but will remain under judicial control.
About fourteen victims reported to local authorities in Istanbul, when they discovered that fraudsters hacked their virtual currency wallets. The hackers, using fake IDs, told telephone operators that the victims’ mobile phones were stolen. They further requested another sim card and canceled the sim cards of the real owners.
Furthermore, the virtual currency hackers used the two-factor authentication method to rest the victims’ passwords. This gave the hackers access to the victims’ cryptocurrency wallets. The digital currency hackers stole over $80,000 worth of virtual currency. The fraudsters spread the assets across various accounts to cover their tracks.
The police raided fraudsters’ apartment and confiscated eighteen cell phones, fake identity cards, two fake driver’s licenses, among others.
Cryptocurrency Theft via Sim Swapping
Digital currency theft via impersonation and sim swapping is a growing trend that is plaguing the industry and targeting investors. Fraudsters call up telephone companies and impersonate their victims to get their victims’ sim cards, which enables access to phone numbers and cryptocurrency wallets.
Cryptocurrency hackers back in June impersonated a Redditor, swapped the victim’s sim, and hacked all social account handles. The hackers gained access to various online accounts linked to the phone number. The fraudsters stole about $50,000 worth of virtual currency via the sim swap.
Also, California authorities arrested 20-year old college student who, with a group of criminals, hacked forty victims via sim swapping. The suspect stole over $5 million worth of digital currency. The case was the first ever reported case involving the use of the sim swap technique to steal various cryptocurrencies.
In a bigger case involving telecommunications behemoth, AT&T, a US investor sued the company for negligence. This was after the victim lost about $24 million worth of virtual currency to hackers. According to the victim, the company cooperated with the hacker and failed to keep to its Privacy Policy.
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