Key Takeaways
- An Alabama man orchestrated a SIM swap to illegally entry and manipulate the SEC’s Twitter account.
- The fraudulent Bitcoin ETF approval tweet precipitated a fast $1,000 improve and subsequent $2,000 lower in Bitcoin costs.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the moment introduced the arrest of Eric Council Jr., an Alabama man linked to a January 2024 unauthorized takeover of the US SEC’s X (previously often called Twitter) account. The hack led to a false announcement about spot Bitcoin ETFs, inflicting main market disruption.
The FBI stated that Council used a SIM swap tactic to realize management of the SEC’s X account and posted a fraudulent message claiming the SEC had authorized Bitcoin ETFs. The false announcement precipitated Bitcoin’s worth to surge by $1,000, solely to fall by over $2,000 after the SEC corrected the misinformation.
The @SECGov twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not authorized the itemizing and buying and selling of spot bitcoin exchange-traded merchandise.
— Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) January 9, 2024
How did it occur?
In line with the FBI, to execute the SIM swap scheme, Council and his co-conspirators obtained private figuring out data (PII) and an identification card template belonging to a sufferer. Utilizing this data, Council created a faux ID and introduced it to a cellphone supplier retailer in Huntsville, Alabama. This allowed him to acquire a brand new SIM card linked to the sufferer’s telephone quantity.
With the SIM card in hand, he bought a brand new iPhone and used it to entry the sufferer’s telephone account. He then obtained the entry codes essential to log into the “@SECGov” account. As soon as he had management of the account, Council shared the entry codes together with his co-conspirators, who then posted the fraudulent message.
For his position within the hack, Council obtained fee in Bitcoin. After the assault, he drove to Birmingham, Alabama, to get rid of the iPhone he had used to entry the SEC account.
Council then performed web searches for phrases corresponding to “SECGOV hack,” “telegram sim swap,” “how can I do know for positive if I’m being investigated by the FBI,” and “What are the indicators that you’re underneath investigation by legislation enforcement or the FBI even if in case you have not been contacted by them.”
Council faces costs of conspiracy to commit aggravated identification theft and entry system fraud, together with his preliminary courtroom look scheduled for at the moment within the Northern District of Alabama.
This can be a creating story.
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