Suspect pleads guilty of taking control of the SEC’s X account

A 25 year old man from Alabama has confessed he performed a SIM swap that allowed him to take over the X account of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to the United States Department of Justice, the suspect conspired with others in a crypto scheme. They used the SEC’s X account to spread the word that the supervisor agency had approved bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds. This caused the price of bitcoins to increase by more than $1,000.

Shortly after the unauthorized access and post came to light, the SEC contradicted the message and said that the announcement was false and the result of a security breach. Due to this, the value of bitcoin decreased by more than $2,000 per bitcoin.

The co-conspirators were able to gain control over the SEC’s X account through a so-called SIM swap.

When a SIM swap occurs, a cell phone carrier is being tricked into reassigning a cell phone number from a legitimate subscriber to another SIM card. Or someone is able to take control over a SIM card and use it to override multi-factor authentication, and thus gaining access to its victim’s online accounts.

To pull this off, the suspect used an identification card printer to create a fraudulent identification card. This card contained the victim’s personally identifiable information, which he got from his accomplices.

The duplicated card was then used to impersonate the victim to gain access to his cellular phone number for accessing the SEC’s X account. The co-conspirators accessed the X account and posted the fake message in the name of the SEC Chairman. The man from Alabama received payment in bitcoin from his accomplices for his role in the crypto scheme.

The suspect has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16 and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.