Two Massachusetts men are accused of stealing cryptocurrency from unsuspecting victims for years, gaining access to devices and emails , and threatening their family members.
The two defendants, named Eric Meiggs, 21, and Declan Harrington, 20, targeted anonymous cryptocurrency companies as well as people with "profitable" social media.
Meiggs and Harrington allegedly took control of their victims' phone numbers through SIM swapping – that is, convincing a mobile phone service provider to remap the number to a new SIM card they controlled – and then reset the password from their email providers or cryptocurrency services.
As the indictment states, the hackers ' victims were 10 and "gang members allegedly stole or attempted to steal more than $550,000 in cryptocurrency from these victims."
However, the two hackers didn't just stop at stealing. They also harassed the victims' family members in various ways, in an attempt to convince the victims to pay them.
For example, after taking control of a California resident's phone number, someone involved in their scheme sent a message to his daughter from the affected phone: "Tell your dad to give us BITCOIN."
But that wasn't all. In November 2015, Meiggs called a Michigan resident and threatened to kill his wife if he "didn't give me control of his Instagram." Meiggs also told the victim that he knew where he lived, and sent him his mother's address to further threaten him.
Meiggs and Harrington are charged with one count of fraud and unorthodox computer use, identity theft, conspiracy and eight counts of wire fraud.
The first conviction of a hacker for SIM swapping fraud came earlier this year. In that case, 20-year-old Joel Ortiz of Boston stole over $5 million in cryptocurrency and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
