A 19-year old named Yousef Selassie was arrested yesterday and charged in what is currently stands as the largest cryptocurrency SIM swap hack to date.
The Brooklyn, New York resident was taken into custody by Manhattan District authorities and charged with identity theft, money laundering, and frauds. He is listed as the sole defendant in the cryptocurrency SIM swap hack case.
According to the indictment, made public on Wednesday by Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, the 19-year old stole the identities of 75+ individuals across the U.S.
Related Read: Two Massachusetts $500,000 Crypto ‘SIM Swapping’ Thieves Arrested
The SIM-swapping techniques used by Yousef was so sophisticated, he allegedly netted $1 million dollars worth in cryptocurrencies. The teen’s cryptocurrency SIM swap hack is the third of its kind to be prosecuted by Vance’s office , but this one yield the biggest gain in term of dollars.
This is a statement released by Mr. Cyrus Vance:
“From his Brooklyn apartment, this defendant accessed accounts belonging to 75 victims in 20 different states.”
Mr. Vance continue:
“As alleged, in just 4 months he drained his victims of more than $1 million in cryptocurrency with little more than an iPhone and computer.”
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Mathieu is a Information technology professional with over 15 years of experience. He started one of the first bitcoin blogs existed in 2010. He started writing about, investing in bitcoin and promoting the first cryptocurrency when only a few technological savvy people knew about it. Mathieu is a world traveler who enjoys culture, technology, finance, salmon, rice and beans. He’s cool, collected and knows a great deal about blockchain technology.
