Security News > 2021 > November > Alleged Twitter hacker charged with theft of $784K in crypto via SIM swaps

The US Department of Justice has indicted a suspected Twitter hacker known as 'PlugWalkJoe' for also stealing $784,000 worth of cryptocurrency using SIM swap attacks.

SIM swap attacks are when threat actors take control of targets' phone numbers by porting them to their own device's SIM card.

In the indictment unsealed today in the Southern District of New York, the DOJ claims that Joseph O'Connor, a/k/a "PlugwalkJoe," and co-conspirators used SIM swaps to gain access to accounts for a Manhattan-based cryptocurrency company.

"Between approximately March 2019 and May 2019, JOSEPH JAMES O'CONNOR, a/k/a"PlugwalkJoe," the defendant, and his co-conspirators perpetrated a scheme to use SIM swaps to conduct cyber intrusions in order to steal approximately $784,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a Manhattan-based cryptocurrency company, which, at all relevant times, provided wallet infrastructure and related software to cryptocurrency exchanges around the world, " reads the unsealed indictment.

The suspect is charged under this new indictment with conspiracy to commit computer hacking, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit money laundering,.

O'Connor was previously indicted for his alleged involvement in a massive July 2020 Twitter hack that allowed threat actors to hijack accounts and promote cryptocurrency scams that stole over $120,000 worth of Bitcoin.

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