A 25-year-old Alabama man was arrested by the FBI for his alleged reference to the January 2024 unauthorized takeover of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X account.
Eric Council Jr. has been accused of posting a pretend tweet pretending to be the SEC Chair, inflicting the worth of bitcoin (BTC) to skyrocket by $1,000.
Based on the indictment, Council conspired with others with a purpose to perform a fraudulent SIM Swap assault.
“As a part of this scheme, the co-conspirators shared with COUNCIL the non-public figuring out info (“Pll”) of the supposed sufferer; created a fraudulent identification doc within the sufferer’s identify; used the fraudulent identification doc to impersonate the sufferer; took over the sufferer’s mobile phone account; and accessed the web social media accounts linked to the sufferer’s cellphone line for the aim of producing fraudulent posts within the identify of the SEC Chairman,” the indictment acknowledged.
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The indictment goes on to explain intimately the actions of Council and his co-conspirators on the date in query, saying that “on or about January 9, 2024, COUNCIL traveled to an AT&T retailer in Huntsville, Alabama and introduced an identification card in C.L.’s identify. COUNCIL claimed to be an FBI worker who broke his cellphone and wanted a brand new SIM card, and thereby obtained a brand new SIM card tied to C.L.’s account (the “C.L. SIM card”). “
After acquiring the SIM card, Council allegedly then went to an Apple Store to buy an iPhone the place he utilized the SIM card with a purpose to obtain the two-factor safety reset code related to the X account.
Because the hack occurred, Council has allegedly searched for “what are some indicators that the FBI is after you” and tips on how to delete accounts on the app Telegram, prosecutors allege.
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He’s being charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated identification theft and entry system fraud, in response to the indictment.
The arrest and the indictment have been introduced by United States Legal professional Matthew M. Graves, Principal Deputy Assistant Legal professional Basic Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Division’s Prison Division, FBI Appearing Particular Agent in Cost David Geist of the Washington Subject Workplace’s Prison and Cyber Division, and SEC Inspector Basic Deborah Jeffrey.