A 23-year-old in Massachusetts pleaded guilty to hacking social media accounts to steal account names and cryptocurrency worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Eric Meiggs admitted to targeting victims with large amounts of cryptocurrency and “high value or ‘OG’ (slang for ‘original gangster’) social media account names,” according to the DOJ. Meiggs and other co-conspirators used an illegal procedure called “SIM-swapping” to hack social media accounts and steal cryptocurrency and OG account names, the DOJ reported. (RELATED: Authorities Arrest 10 People Who Stole $100,000 In Cryptocurrency By Hacking Celebrities’ Phones)
Massachusetts Man Pleads Guilty to Operating Nationwide Scheme to Steal Social Media Accounts and Cryptocurrencyhttps://t.co/yjlQhhsDMK
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) April 28, 2021
SIM-swapping involves the hacker requesting a cellphone carrier to transfer the victim’s cell phone number from the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card in his or her phone to the SIM card in the hacker’s phone. The hacker can then request account password-reset links while posing as the victim, according to the DOJ.
Meiggs and the other hackers stole or tried to steal over $530,000 in cryptocurrency from at least 10 victims, the DOJ reported.
Meiggs pleaded guilty to seven counts of conspiracy, wire and computer fraud, and identity theft. He faces a minimum of two years in prison along with any other sentence to be decided by a federal district court judge on September 15, the DOJ reported.