An Eighteen-year-old hacker Samy Bensaci to face four-year criminal charges for stealing over $50 Million by targeting cryptocurrency holders.
He is accused by Canadian authorities for gaining unauthorized access to cell phones of crypto-currency holders in America and Canada using the SIM-swapping technique.
The theft happened in the spring of 2018, a police representative said that “the hackers were responsible for the theft of “$50 million from our neighbors to the south and $300,000 in Canada.”
Among his victims, there are two popular Canadian crypto consultants, “head of the Blockchain Research Institute Don Tapscott and his son Alex, a globally recognized investor, advisor, and speaker on Blockchain technology and crypto-currencies.”
He was arrested in Victoria, British Columbia in November 2019 and charged for committing fraud over $5,000, identity fraud, and illegally accessing computer data.
According to the report, In December he was released in the following month on $200,000 bail and ordered to live with parents.
While staying at his residence with parents he is prohibited from accessing any computer, tablet, mobile phone, game console, including PS3, PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch or any other device connecting to the Internet.
The court also prohibited him from owning or exchanging any form of the cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoins.
Most of this hacking group victims are the participants of the Consensus, an annual gathering of the cryptocurrency and blockchain technology world.
“We suspect that hackers spotted targets during such events,” said Rob Ross, an American victim of this hacking scheme.
According to Lieutenant Hugo Fournier, spokesperson for the SQ, “This collaboration helped put an end to a ploy that claimed dozens of lives, involving thefts of 50 million from our neighbors to the south and $ 300,000 in Canada”
It is a type of attack in which hackers trick the telecommunication companies to port the victim’s phone numbers to the SIM card owned by attackers.
Attackers use to gather personal details of the victims by using social engineering methods or to be purchased directly from data brokers.
If they get the details then attackers mimic the victim using personal details and claim they have lost them, so need a SIM card replacement.
Once the change processed victim phone will lose connection and the number will get activated with the attacker’s SIM card.
By using this method attackers bypass the two-factor authentication process via SMS or call to mobile phones.
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