Ten men and women belonging to a prison network have been arrested in link with a sequence of SIM-swapping attacks that resulted in the theft of far more than $100 million by hijacking the mobile phone accounts of substantial-profile individuals in the U.S.
The Europol-coordinated year-extended investigation was jointly executed by regulation enforcement authorities from the U.K., U.S., Belgium, Malta, and Canada.
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“The attacks orchestrated by this criminal gang qualified thousands of victims through 2020, together with famed internet influencers, activity stars, musicians and their family members,” Europol reported in a assertion. “The criminals are considered to have stolen from them more than $100 million in cryptocurrencies immediately after illegally attaining access to their telephones.”
The eight suspects, aged 18 to 26, are said to be portion of a greater ring, two members of which were nabbed earlier in Malta and Belgium. The newest arrests have been created in England and Scotland.
The sweep arrives almost a yr after Europol led an operation to dismantle two SIM swap legal teams that stole €3.5 million ($3.9 million) by orchestrating a wave of far more than 100 attacks concentrating on victims in Austria, emptying their financial institution accounts by means of their phone figures.
Typically attained with the help of a corrupt insider or using social engineering lures, SIM swapping refers to the method adopted by cybercriminals to persuade phone carriers into porting their victims’ cell products and services to a SIM card under their manage.
The SIM swap then grants attackers entry to incoming phone calls, text messages, and a person-time verification codes (or a single-time passwords) that various websites mail by way of SMS messages as section of the two-factor authentication (2FA) method.
As soon as in handle of the target’s cellular phone, the authorities mentioned that the criminals accessed particular info, which includes contacts synced with on-line accounts, and stole money, with cryptocurrency losses exceeding $100 million in 2020.
“They also hijacked social media accounts to post articles and send messages masquerading as the sufferer,” the U.S. Magic formula Company reported.
The arrested suspects facial area prices for offences under the Computer system Misuse Act, as properly as fraud and cash laundering. They are also predicted to be extradited to the U.S. for prosecution.
To steer clear of SIM swapping attacks, it really is advisable that people preserve their device’s software up to day, limit information-sharing online, and allow 2FA by using applications in its place of owning an authentication code sent in excess of SMS.
“When doable, do not affiliate your phone quantity with delicate on the web accounts,” Europol cautioned.
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Some areas of this article are sourced from:
thehackernews.com
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