A Florida man, linked to the infamous Scattered Spider hacking gang, has pleaded guilty to prices associated to cryptocurrency thefts which have netted lots of of hundreds of {dollars}.
20-year-old Noah Michael City of Palm Coast, Florida, who was arrested in January 2024, has admitted committing crimes associated to SIM swap fraud, aggravated id theft, and the theft of US $800,000 value of Bitcoin and Ethereum from 5 cryptocurrency buyers whose digital wallets had been compromised.
Prosecutors described how City and different members of the Scattered Spider gang stole victims’ private data to assist them hijack the cellphone numbers of cryptocurrency buyers, after which abuse their unauthorised entry to grab management of victims’ on-line accounts, and break into their cryptocurrency wallets.
“Scattered Spider” turn out to be notorious because the cybercrime syndicate behind the headline-generating hacks of the Las Vegas casinos MGM Resorts and Caesars, amongst different excessive profile victims.
Scattered Spider made a reputation for themselves via the audacity of their assaults, which noticed them pose as a IT workers to trick staff into handing over login credentials and one-time-passwords, or operating instruments which gave them distant entry instruments to inside methods. In some instances, gang members had no qualms about contacting focused people by way of cellphone in an try to socially engineer them into handing over delicate data.
City, who was higher recognized on-line by handles together with “King Bob” (a reference to the “Minions” film, “Sosa”, and “Elijah”), had gained himself widespread notoriety after leaking songs from well-known music artists resembling Ariana Grande, Lil Uzi Vert, and Playboi Carti – disrupting deliberate album releases. The theft of the music is believed to have taken place after City broke into the accounts of music industry executives by way of SIM swap assaults.
City’s luck ran out in January 2024 when he was arrested by regulation enforcement companies. In the course of the raid, City was reported to have tried to wipe his laptop and social media historical past, in an obvious try to destroy proof.
As a part of City’s plea deal, he has agreed to forfeit his jewelry, foreign money, and cryptocurrency property, and pays US $13 million restitution to 59 victims. He’s anticipated to be sentenced throughout the subsequent 75 days.
Fees towards a few of City’s alleged co-conspirators stay in place, whereas different suspected members of the Scattered Spider gang – a few of whom seem to have accomplished a poor job at masking their tracks – proceed to dwell seemingly carefree for now in international locations throughout the globe.
