Team of Hackers Charged in U.S for “SIM Hijacking” Attack and Steal $2,400,000

A group of hackers from the cybercrime group known as “The Community” charged in the U.S for “Sim Hijacking” attack and commit wire fraud along with 3 former employees of mobile phone providers.

All the 6 members of “The community ” group alleged to have participated in thefts of victims’ identities and used the data to steal cryptocurrencies via SIM Hijacking attack also known as SIM Swapping.

“SIM Hijacking” or “SIM Swapping” is an identity theft technique that exploits a common cyber-security weakness – mobile phone numbers.

This special technique used by hackers to gain control of victims’ mobile phone number in order to route the victims mobile traffic such as phone calls and short message service (“SMS”) messages through the devices controlled by “The Community”.

According to the fifteen-count indictment unsealed, SIM Hijacking was accomplished by a member of “The Community” contacting a mobile phone provider’s customer service—posing as the victim—and requesting that the victim’s phone number be swapped to a SIM card (and thus a mobile device) controlled by “The Community”.

Later, Hijacked new SIM will be used as a gateway to gain control of online accounts such as a victim’s email, cloud storage, and cryptocurrency exchange accounts.

Here list of 6 “The Community” 3 former employee of mobile phone provide.

• Conor Freeman, 20, of Dublin, Ireland
• Ricky Handschumacher, 25 of Pasco County, Florida
• Colton Jurisic, 20 of, Dubuque, Iowa
• Reyad Gafar Abbas, 19, of Rochester, New York
• Garrett Endicott, 21, of Warrensburg, Missouri
• Ryan Stevenson, 26, of West Haven, Connecticut

Charged in the criminal complaint were:

• Jarratt White, 22 of Tucson, Arizona
• Robert Jack, 22of Tucson, Arizona
• Fendley Joseph, 28, of Murrietta, California

These members of the hacking group hijacked the victims mobile to gain control of the cryptocurrency wallets and steal the victim’s funds that valued at $2.5 million dollars.

In this case, 3 employees( White, Jack, and Joseph ) of mobile phone service providers were helped to the community member to steal the subscriber identity.

“The allegations against these defendants are the result of a complex cryptocurrency and identity theft investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations, which spanned two continents,” said Salazar. 

“If convicted on the charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, each defendant faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.” Justice.gov, the report said.

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Various SIM Swap Attack in Recent Past

First SIM Swapping Hacker Convicted, Gets 10 Years in Prison

SIM Swapping Hacker Group Who Managed to Steal $80,000 Worth of Cryptocurrency Got Arrested

Hacker Group Stolen $5 Million Through SIM Swapping Hacks

21-year-old man Stole $1 Million Within Seconds Through SIM-swapping Hacks

Mumbai Businessman Loses Rs. 1.86cr After Getting 6 Missed Calls