British citizens are guilty of stealing crypto worth $ 8 million and hacking Twitter accounts

British citizens are guilty of stealing crypto worth $ 8 million and hacking Twitter accounts

Joseph James O’Connor, a 23-year-old British citizen who was delivered from Spain to the United States on April 26, owed to several charges, including the hacking of the social media platform Twitter in 2020.

o’connor, which also uses the online name Plugwalkjoe, was accused of stealing cryptocurrencies worth $ 794,000 by a company based in Manhattan by a SIM SWAP attack. US prosecutors said O’Connor would withhold the funds and pay compensation to his victims.

In addition, O’Connor was charged with hacking of Twitter and Tik-Tok accounts and the promotion of fraudulent machinations. He has guilty in all of these charges and he threatens a maximum penalty of 77 years in all charges.

malicious actions

"Joseph O’Connor, alias" Plugwalkjoe ", used his highly developed technical skills for malicious purposes-by carrying out a complex SIM swap attack to steal large amounts of cryptocurrency, hacked, computer break-ins to take over social media accounts, and even cyberstalking with two vipers, including a minor victim, ”said US prosecutor Damian Williams in an explanation.

to O’Connors malicious exploits, the hacking of verified Twitter accounts by Tesla-CEO Elon Musk and Joe Biden, a candidate for presidential at the time. In addition, Reuters said that the Twitter accounts of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Benjamin Netanyahu, Jeff Bezos, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Michael Bloomberg were also affected.

The news agency added that he had used these accounts with millions of followers to advertise digital currencies, which forced Twitter to publish no messages from these profiles for several hours until they were thoroughly adjusted and secured.

fraud

A current FBI report showed that US citizens lost over $ 10 billion in 2022 through online fraud, of which $ 2.57 billion was thrilled by various crypto investment fraud. Hackers often break into the social media accounts of famous personalities, promote fraudulent crypto investment programs and hunt for unsuspecting investors. In 2021, US citizens lost only $ 907 million by crypto fraud.

fraud over verified Twitter accounts increased significantly in the run-up to the Ethereum Merge. In the midst of the hype and the excitement during the transition, malicious units hacked in one case in one case the official Twitter name of Go First Airline and changed it to Vitalik.eth. The exhibition was also replaced by Vitalik Buterin. The compromised account then advertised a fake giveaway fraud over 100,000 ETH.

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