FBI nabs Alabama crook who hacked SEC’s X account

It took some time, but FBI officials finally arrested an Alabama man in January for hacking the Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account in an attempt to promote bitcoin (BTC).

Eric Council Jr., 25, appeared Thursday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama on charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud, said the prosecutors.

They allege that Council and other conspirators took over the identity of a person with access to the SEC’s X account by executing a SIM swap, which fraudulently reassigns a cell phone number to another phone.

Back in January, the fake SEC post – which got more than a million views in less than 30 minutes before the SEC took it down – claimed that the agency was about to approve the listing of crypto ETFs (exchange-traded funds) on the US national securities exchanges.

The post read: “Today the SEC grants approval for #bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.” Immediately after the post, the price of BTC increased by more than $1,000 per bitcoin.

Later that week, to be sure, the SEC did approve rule changes that allowed bitcoin ETFs in the US. Still, the statement on the agency’s X account was false, and Council committed a crime.

He knew it. The prosecutors say Council later conducted web searches for “SECGOV hack,” “telegram sim swap,” “how can I know for sure if I am being investigated by the FBI,” and “What are the signs that you are under investigation by law enforcement or the FBI even if you have not been contacted by them.”

"These SIM swapping schemes, where fraudsters trick service providers into giving them control of unsuspecting victims’ phones, can result in devastating financial losses to victims and leaks of sensitive personal and private information,” said US Attorney Matthew Graves.

“Here, the conspirators allegedly used their illegal access to a phone to manipulate financial markets.”

SIM swapping is a technique in which attackers gain control of a telephone number by tricking the service provider into reassigning it to a new device (and new SIM card) that they control.

SIM swapping usually involves exploiting two-factor authentication to gain fraudulent access to an account. In January, US lawmakers demanded explanations as to how the SEC could have exposed itself to such an attack.