Security News > 2022 > December > SIM swapper gets 18-months for involvement in $22 million crypto heist
Florida man Nicholas Truglia was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Thursday for his involvement in a fraud scheme that led to the theft of millions from cryptocurrency investor Michael Terpin.
The funds were stolen following a January 2018 SIM swap attack that allowed Truglia's co-conspirators to hijack Terpin's phone number and fraudulently transfer roughly $23.8 million in cryptocurrency from his crypto wallet to an online account under Truglia's control.
The restitution order says $12.1 million is due to be paid before December 31, and $8,279 million is payable on or before January 30.
Ellis Pinsky, the SIM swap gang's suspected 15-year-old leader, reached a deal with Terpin in November and was ordered to pay the investor $22 million.
SIM swapping enables criminals to take control of a target's phone number with the help of bribed employees or by convincing their mobile carriers to swap the number to an attacker-controlled SIM card using social engineering.
In early February, the FBI warned that criminals had escalated SIM swap attacks to steal millions from unsuspecting victims by hijacking their phone numbers.
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