British National Admits Hacking Companies and Stealing Millions in Virtual Currency
\n \t
\n
<\/BR>
\n
\n \t
\n
<\/BR><\/p>\n
A British man has pleaded guilty in the United States to his role in a large cybercrime scheme that used SMS phishing, company network intrusions, and SIM swapping to steal at least $1 million in virtual currency from victims across the country.<\/p>\n
Tyler Robert Buchanan,\u00a0of Dundee, Scotland, was admitted to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft<\/a>.<\/p>\n U.S. prosecutors said Buchanan worked with others between September and April to target at least a dozen companies and many individual victims. He has been in federal custody since April.<\/p>\n According to court records, the group launched large-scale SMS phishing campaigns, also known as smishing attacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n They sent hundreds of text messages to employees at targeted companies. These messages appeared to come from the victim company or from trusted third-party IT and business process outsourcing providers.<\/p>\n The texts contained links to fake login pages that appeared to be real corporate websites. When employees entered their usernames, passwords, and other personal information, the data was captured by a phishing kit controlled by the attackers.<\/p>\n Prosecutors said the stolen credentials were then sent to a Telegram channel<\/a> administered by Buchanan and another co-conspirator. Using these credentials, the attackers accessed employee accounts and company systems.<\/p>\n They stole sensitive information, including confidential business files, intellectual property, names, email addresses, telephone numbers, and account access data.<\/p>\n Buchanan later admitted that investigators found files linked to many victim companies at his residence in Scotland.<\/p>\n Authorities said the stolen company data helped the group identify individuals with valuable holdings of virtual currency. Buchanan and his co-conspirators then moved to compromise those personal accounts and digital wallets.<\/p>\n To bypass security controls, the group used SIM swapping<\/a>. In these attacks, a criminal convinces or tricks a mobile carrier into porting a victim\u2019s phone number to a SIM card under the attacker\u2019s control.<\/p>\n Once the number is transferred, the attacker can intercept one-time passcodes and SMS-based two-factor authentication messages, allowing access to protected accounts.<\/a><\/p>\n Investigators found additional evidence on a device at Buchanan\u2019s home, including names and addresses of victims, cryptocurrency seed phrases, and login details for at least one victim\u2019s account.<\/p>\n Buchanan admitted the conspiracy stole at least a million in virtual assets from victims in the United States.<\/p>\n U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb has scheduled sentencing<\/a> for August. Buchanan faces a maximum sentence of years in federal prison.<\/p>\n One co-conspirator, Noah Michael Urban of Florida, previously received a\u00a0one-year federal prison sentence and was ordered to pay million in restitution.<\/p>\n Three other defendants still face charges. The FBI investigated the case with help from international and domestic law enforcement partners, including Police Scotland and authorities in Spain.<\/p>\n Follow us on Google News<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a>, and X<\/a> for daily cybersecurity updates. Contact us<\/a> to feature your stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n The post British National Admits Hacking Companies and Stealing Millions in Virtual Currency<\/a> appeared first on Cyber Security News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nStole Millions in Virtual Currency<\/strong><\/h2>\n