[01-08-2018]College Student Steals Millions in SIM Card Bitcoin Hijacking Scheme

[bitzamp.com]

Investigators have arrested and charged a 20-year-old college student of being part of a gang that hacked cellphone numbers before stealing over $5 million in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Tech news website Motherboard reported, citing court documents obtained by it, that Joel Ortiz, a 20-year-old college student from Boston, has been accused of hijacking more than 40 phone numbers with the help of some accomplices.

Ortiz and a group of associates specifically targeted people involved in crypto and blockchain. The group allegedly targeted multiple individuals during the high-profile Consensus conference in New York City in May 2018.

The hacking technique involves tricking a cell phone provider such as AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile. To pull off the scheme, Ortiz and his crew had to impersonate their targets. They allegedly contacted the victims’ cell phone providers to request new SIM cards, convincing them that you have lost your SIM card.
Once they have confirmed your identity, they will transfer the number to another SIM card (which you already own).

The hunt for the criminal gang started when one unnamed victim reported to the police that his cell phone..

Read More: https://news.bitzamp.com/college-student-steals-millions-in-sim-card-bitcoin-hijacking-scheme/

[darkangel11]

No more college for him. He's going to take courses in prison instead.
The only thing the article is missing is the connection between the phone numbers and cryptocurrency. My guess is after obtaining the number he went on to try to trick the victim's 2fa to reset his password, but how did he know the victim's logins? You need to know the name of the user to be able to initiate 2fa reset, same thing with the wwhole sim card scam. They needed some information about the victim whose card they wanted to get.