US accused 9 people of using SIM hijacking to obtain $2.4 million

The US prosecutor filed an allegation against nine suspects this week, allegedly robbing the SIM card and stealing the cryptocurrency of the user. According to court documents, nine people have drawn more than $2.4 million in illegal proceeds. In an indictment, the prosecutor of the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan claimed that six people living in the United States and Ireland created the hacking organization “The Community.”

The prosecution said that this small team formed a hacker circle with other people to jointly implement a fraudulent activity called SIM hijacking, and persuaded the mobile phone operator to transfer the phone number to the new SIM card through bribery or fraud. After getting the phone number, hackers can bypass security measures such as two-factor authentication, allowing them to control the victim’s account.

The target of the hacker is mainly the cryptocurrency in the hands of the victim. The file shows that “The Community” used SIM hijacking seven times. In one of the activities, the prosecution found that the operators of the three mobile phone companies accepted the bribe, which facilitated the crime. It is reported that nine hackers are facing multiple allegations of fraud and identity theft, while telephone company employees are accused of wire fraud. If convicted, everyone may face decades of imprisonment.

Source: The Verge