Swindler duo jailed for stealing from crypto bosses

Two Massachusetts men targeted heads of crypto companies or anyone else loaded with digital currency.

24-year-old Eric Meiggs and 22-year-old Declan Harrington will spend the next two years in prison for running a nationwide scheme.

According to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), the duo specifically targeted executives of cryptocurrency companies and other individuals who had amassed large amounts of digital currency.

“Meiggs and Harrington conspired to hack into and take control over these victims’ online accounts so they could obtain things of value, such as cryptocurrency,” the DoJ said.

The pair set their sights on at least ten victims all over the United States, netting around $330,000 in cryptocurrency from their victims. DoJ claims that Meiggs also stole two high-value social media accounts.

The conmen used SIM-swapping, computer hacking, and other techniques to access and take control of the accounts with crypto.

SIM swapping attacks can have dire consequences for someone relying on one-time SMS codes to login into sensitive accounts, such as online banking. During a SIM swapping attack, crooks switch the SIM card associated with a phone number to bypass two-factor authentication (2FA) on the victim’s personal accounts.

While using 2FA is highly advisable, hackers have discovered multiple ways to bypass 2FA when the authentication method consists of one-time codes sent as an SMS message.