TL;DR Breakdown:
- Law enforcement agencies have apprehended 10 SIM swappers in Europe.
- The gang allegedly targeted celebrities in the United States to steal their info and cryptocurrencies.
Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, has reportedly arrested a group of SIM swappers targeting celebrities in the United States. As the Independent reported on Thursday, the group made millions of dollars from the attacks by stealing information and cryptocurrencies from victims. This attack has been gradually increasing over the years. However, authorities are still active in cracking it down.
10 SIM swappers arrested in UK, Malta, and Belgium
As reported, Europol arrested 10 SIM swappers in the United Kingdom, Malta, and Belgium, in collaboration with the other law enforcement agencies in these countries. In such an attack, the scammers or perpetrators trick the phone company into porting a victim’s SIM details to another new SIM card in their possession. When this access is guaranteed, they can easily bypass/reset certain authentications to steal important info from the victims.
These SIM swappers allegedly hacked into mobile phones belonging to internet influencers, musicians, and other US celebrities in the sports industry. They mostly launched the attack to steal personal information and digital currencies belonging to celebrities, according to Europol. It is believed that the SIM swappers generated over $100 million from these illicit acts.
SIM swap attacks are on the rise
SIM swapping is becoming a thorn in the side for many law enforcement authorities, as the attack keeps increasing with every new year. Last year, Cryptopolitan reported that a Canadian teenager was arrested and charged for conducting a $50 million SIM swap attack. In June, a Redditor reportedly lost his Ethereum coins to a SIM swapper while trying to convert the cryptocurrency to Bitcoin.
