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A SIM swapper has been charged in connection with a cryptocurrency theft plot
At least 40 people were extorted by a student for money and cryptocurrency.
According to a new release from the US Department of Justice on Monday, a University of California San Diego student named Richard Yuan Li was indicted on August 26th for a SIM swapping scheme that involved stealing phone numbers and accounts and extorting at least 40 people for cryptocurrency and other payments.
Li persuaded Apple customer care in 2018 to give him a new iPhone 8 for one he said was lost in the mail, according to the indictment (PDF). Li and others then encouraged carriers to port victims' phone numbers to the iPhone 8 in order to gain access to their accounts — and, in some cases, directly deplete their cryptocurrency wallets.
“Li and his co-conspirators contacted victims and demanded payment of ransoms in order to avert future harm, including as new account hacks, the loss of additional cryptocurrency, and the exposure of victims' sensitive information,” the DOJ adds.
If Li is convicted of all charges, which include wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and "conspiracy to engage in interstate communication with the intent to extort and commit computer fraud and abuse," he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
SIM switching is the act of assuming another person's phone number in order to steal their identity. Typically, unknowing victims' phone numbers are moved to burner phones — frequently by requesting it from carriers — and then scammers use those phones to impersonate the victim and take control of their internet accounts. Li's story serves as a sobering reminder of how prevalent SIM shifting is. It even happened to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019.
The fact that phone numbers are a critical component of identity theft has a lot to do with the way two-factor authentication is typically configured. By default, many online services offer two-factor verification, but the second means of identification is via a cell phone. With stolen phone numbers, this can quickly become a springboard for gaining access to someone's account.
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By Crypto PiratesAt least 40 people were extorted by a student for money and cryptocurrency.
According to a new release from the US Department of Justice on Monday, a University of California San Diego student named Richard Yuan Li was indicted on August 26th for a SIM swapping scheme that involved stealing phone numbers and accounts and extorting at least 40 people for cryptocurrency and other payments.
Li persuaded Apple customer care in 2018 to give him a new iPhone 8 for one he said was lost in the mail, according to the indictment (PDF). Li and others then encouraged carriers to port victims' phone numbers to the iPhone 8 in order to gain access to their accounts — and, in some cases, directly deplete their cryptocurrency wallets.
“Li and his co-conspirators contacted victims and demanded payment of ransoms in order to avert future harm, including as new account hacks, the loss of additional cryptocurrency, and the exposure of victims' sensitive information,” the DOJ adds.
If Li is convicted of all charges, which include wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and "conspiracy to engage in interstate communication with the intent to extort and commit computer fraud and abuse," he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
SIM switching is the act of assuming another person's phone number in order to steal their identity. Typically, unknowing victims' phone numbers are moved to burner phones — frequently by requesting it from carriers — and then scammers use those phones to impersonate the victim and take control of their internet accounts. Li's story serves as a sobering reminder of how prevalent SIM shifting is. It even happened to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019.
The fact that phone numbers are a critical component of identity theft has a lot to do with the way two-factor authentication is typically configured. By default, many online services offer two-factor verification, but the second means of identification is via a cell phone. With stolen phone numbers, this can quickly become a springboard for gaining access to someone's account.
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