FBI Arrests Alabama Man Behind SEC X Hack and Fake Spot Bitcoin ETF Post That Spiked Prices

An Alabama man was arrested Thursday morning after prosecutors alleged he hacked the U.S. Securities and Change Fee’s social media account, which posted a false announcement concerning the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Eric Council Jr. is accused of taking management of the SEC’s X account in January after which transferring management to unnamed co-conspirators, whose faux publish precipitated a spike in Bitcoin’s value.

SEC’s Twitter account was hacked by way of SIM swapping

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced It was introduced on Thursday {that a} man has been arrested and charged with hijacking the Securities and Change Fee’s (SEC) Twitter (X) account. In January, he used the account to falsely declare that the company had accredited Bitcoin ETFs, inflicting a sudden spike in Bitcoin’s value.

Eric Council Jr., a 25-year-old from Athens, Alabama, was arrested Thursday. Authorities allege he used a “SIM swapping” approach to take over a telephone quantity, permitting him to realize unauthorized entry to the SEC’s Twitter account. After the false announcement, Bitcoin’s value rose by greater than $1,000, however rapidly fell by $2,000 as soon as the declare was refuted.

U.S. Legal professional Matthew Graves mentioned: “These SIM swapping schemes, wherein fraudsters trick service suppliers into giving them management over the telephones of unsuspecting victims, may end up in devastating monetary losses for victims and the leak of delicate private and personal info. Right here the conspirators allegedly used their unlawful entry to a phone to control the monetary markets. By means of fees like these, we’ll maintain accountable those that commit these severe crimes.”

This is how the plan was carried out

The indictment alleges that Eric Council, identified on-line by aliases “Ronin,” “Easymunny” and “AGiantSchnauzer,” conspired with others to acquire personally identifiable info (PII) from a sufferer, together with an identification card template with the sufferer’s title . and picture. Utilizing this info, Council created a faux ID utilizing his ID card printer.

He then visited a cellphone supplier retailer in Huntsville, Alabama, the place he introduced the faux ID to acquire a SIM card linked to the sufferer’s telephone line. With this SIM card, the Council purchased a brand new iPhone in money and purchased entry codes for the @SECGov X account.

These codes had been then shared together with his co-conspirators, who gained entry to the account and printed a fraudulent tweet within the title of the SEC Chairman, falsely asserting the approval of Bitcoin ETFs.

Eric obtained a cost in Bitcoin for facilitating the SIM swap. After the incident, he traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, to return the iPhone used within the scheme for money. Investigators later found that he performed Web searches associated to the hack, together with questions on FBI investigations and the indicators of such an investigation.