The person who hacked an X account related to the U.S. Securities and Change Fee (SEC) final yr has been sentenced to 14 months behind bars for manipulating the worth of Bitcoin (BTC).
In a brand new press release, the USA Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Columbia says that Eric Council Jr. – a 26-year-old man from Alabama – has been sentenced to over a yr in jail for his function within the exploit, when he and others hacked the X account of the regulator a way of boosting BTC.
Authorities say that Council engaged in “SIM swaps,” or assaults on a cell phone’s Subscriber Id Module (SIM), which shops and authenticates distinctive consumer knowledge and permits mobile gadgets to connect with cellular networks.
Prosecutors say that on January ninth, 2024, Council and others SIM-swapped the cellular phone of an individual related to the SEC’s official X account to make a pretend publish and manipulate the worth of BTC.
To tug off the scheme, Council created a pretend ID card to trick AT&T retailer workers into giving him a alternative SIM card linked to the sufferer’s cellphone line. He then bought a brand new iPhone, inserted the brand new SIM card and proceeded to reset the password of the SEC’s X account and shared the knowledge along with his co-conspirators earlier than returning the cellphone for money.
One of many crew members subsequently made a pretend publish utilizing the official SEC account about how the regulatory company had accepted BTC-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which on the time had been extremely anticipated and pending approval.
Following the publish, BTC’s value rose by $1,000. Nevertheless, after the SEC regained management of its account and confirmed that the publish was fraudulent, BTC dipped by $2,000.
As acknowledged by US Lawyer Jeanine Pirro,
“Schemes of this nature threaten the well being and integrity of our market system. SIM swap schemes threaten the monetary safety of common residents, monetary establishments, and authorities businesses.”
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