PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON – Eric Council, 25, of Athens, Alabama, entered a responsible plea at this time to 1 depend of conspiracy to commit aggravated identification theft in United States District Courtroom for the District of Columbia. Council was arrested on October 17, 2024, in connection along with his function in a conspiracy to hack into the X account of the U.S. Securities and Change Fee (SEC) and publish fraudulent posts within the identify of the then-SEC Chairman.
The plea was introduced by U.S. Legal professional Edward R. Martin, Jr., Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Division’s Prison Division, SEC Inspector Basic Deborah Jeffrey and FBI Particular Agent in Cost Sean Ryan of the Washington Subject Workplace, Prison and Cyber Division.
Council’s plea was entered earlier than U.S. District Courtroom Choose Amy Berman Jackson within the District of Columbia. He faces a most sentence of 5 years in jail, a $250,000 fantastic, and as much as three years of supervised launch. His sentencing is scheduled for Might 16, 2025.
In response to court docket paperwork, from no less than January 2024, Council conspired with others to hold out Subscriber Identification Mannequin (SIM) assaults, generally known as “SIM swaps,” in change for cash.
A SIM card is a chip that shops info figuring out and authenticating a mobile phone subscriber and connects a bodily mobile phone to a cellular service’s mobile and knowledge community. A SIM swap assault is a type of subtle fraud the place legal actors fraudulently induce a cellular service to reassign a cell phone quantity from a sufferer’s SIM card to a SIM card and phone managed by a legal actor making an attempt to entry invaluable info related to the sufferer’s phone. Members of SIM swapping teams conduct SIM swaps for the aim of defeating multifactor authentication and/or two-step verification safety features for web related accounts, resembling social media and digital foreign money accounts.
After convincing a cellular service to reassign a telephone quantity to a brand new SIM card within the legal actor’s management, members of the conspiracy generate password reset safety authentication codes for on-line accounts and people codes are in flip despatched to the phone within the management of the legal actor. Members of SIM swap teams share the safety reset codes with each other to unlawfully entry a sufferer’s web related accounts and full the fraud.
On or about January 9, 2024, Council, and others, executed a SIM swap of the cell phone account related to the @SECgov X account, the official account of the SEC. The aim of this SIM swap was to achieve unauthorized entry to this authorities account with the intention to make fraudulent posts.
Earlier than January 9, a member of the conspiracy had recognized the licensed person for the telephone quantity linked to the official @SECgov X account. Council acquired instruction from a co-conspirator to carry out the SIM swap on this telephone line, together with info to make the wanted faux ID, that’s, a picture of an ID card template with the licensed person’s identify on it however Council’s face, and knowledge purporting to be the person’s date of delivery and social safety quantity.
Council used his moveable ID card printer to create a bodily ID which he used to impersonate the sufferer at an AT&T retailer in Huntsville, Alabama. Council supplied false info to the AT&T retailer worker to elucidate why he wanted a alternative SIM card. Council obtained the SIM card linked to the sufferer’s telephone line and walked to a close-by Apple retailer the place he bought a brand new iPhone to make use of within the crime. He inserted the SIM card to activate the telephone, acquired the @SECGov X password reset codes on this new telephone linked to the sufferer’s SIM card and used his private mobile phone to take a photograph of the @SECgov X account reset code to share along with his co-conspirators. After passing alongside the password reset codes, Council drove to Birmingham, Alabama and instantly returned the iPhone for money.
A member of the conspiracy used the reset code to achieve entry to the @SECGov X account and challenge a fraudulent publish within the identify of the then-SEC Chairman, falsely saying SEC approval of Bitcoin (BTC) Change Traded Funds (ETFs). The value of BTC elevated by greater than $1,000 following the publish. Shortly after this unauthorized publish, the SEC regained management over their X account and confirmed that the announcement was unauthorized and the results of a safety breach, which induced the worth of BTC decreased by greater than $2,000.
Council additionally admitted to making an attempt to carry out extra SIM swaps in June 2024 in Alabama. In June 2024, the FBI executed a search warrant at an Athens, Alabama, residence the place he resided. Brokers recovered a faux identification card and a transportable ID card printer. In addition they recovered a laptop computer laptop.
Pursuant to the search warrant, brokers searched the laptop computer and found templates for extra faux identification playing cards saved on the laptop computer together with web searches for
“SECGOV hack,” “telegram sim swap,” “how can I do know for positive if I’m being investigated by the FBI,” “What are the indicators that you’re beneath investigation by regulation enforcement or the FBI even when you have not been contacted by them,” “what are some indicators that the FBI is after you,” “Verizon retailer record,” “federal identification theft statute,” and “how lengthy does it take to delete telegram account.”
Council admitted to receiving roughly $50,000 from members of the conspiracy to carry out SIM swap throughout the earlier six months.
This case is being investigated by the FBI Washington Subject Workplace Prison and Cyber Division, the SEC-Workplace of Inspector Basic, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the District of Columbia, and the Pc Crime and Mental Property Part (CCIPS) and Fraud Part’s Market Integrity and Main Frauds Unit of the Justice Division’s Prison Division. Vital help was supplied by the FBI’s Birmingham Subject Workplace.
The prosecution is being dealt with by Assistant United States Legal professional Kevin Rosenberg, CCIPS Trial Legal professional Ashley Pungello, and Fraud Part Trial Legal professional Lauren Archer. Useful help was supplied by Assistant United States Legal professional John Hundscheid from the Northern District of Alabama.
For extra info on SIM swapping, go to: https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA240411