Two Massachusetts men were arrested last week and charged with conducting an extensive scheme to take over victims’ social media accounts and attempting to steal more than $500,000 in cryptocurrency using “SIM swapping,” computer hacking and other methods.
Eric Meiggs, 21, of Brockton, and Declan Harrington, 20, of Rockport, were indicted on one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud, one count of computer fraud and abuse and one count of aggravated identity theft. After being arrested Thursday, Meiggs and Harrington were released on conditions following an initial appearance in federal court in Boston.
Meiggs and Harrington allegedly targeted executives of cryptocurrency companies and other people who likely had significant amounts of cryptocurrency, as well as those who had high-value or “OG” social media account names. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Meiggs and Harrington allegedly conspired to hack into and take control of these victims’ online accounts so they could obtain things of value, including cryptocurrency. They used an illegal practice known as “SIM-swapping” and other techniques to access, take control of, and in some cases steal cryptocurrency from the accounts.
With “SIM swapping,” criminals convince a victim’s cell phone carrier to reassign the cell phone number from the SIM card inside the victim’s cell phone to the SIM card inside a cell phone controlled by the criminals. They then pose as the victim with an online account provider and request that the provider send account password-reset links or an authentication code to the SIM-swapped device now controlled by the criminals. The criminals can then reset the victim’s account log-in credentials and access the victim’s account without authorization, or “hack into” the account.
Meiggs and Harrington allegedly targeted at least 10 victims around the country. Members of the conspiracy allegedly stole or attempted to steal over $550,000 in cryptocurrency from the victims. Meiggs allegedly took control over two victims’ “OG” accounts with social media companies.
