Two US men sentenced for stealing crypto using 'SIM swapping'

Two men from Massachusetts, have been sentenced to serve time in prison for an "extensive scheme to take over victims' social media accounts and steal their cryptocurrency using techniques such as SIM swapping," according to a press release by the Justice Department.

• Eric Meiggs, 24, has been sentenced to two years and one day in prison and Declan Harrington, 22, has been sentenced to two years and seven days in prison.

• The FBI had arrested Meiggs and Harrington in 2019. Meiggs plead guilty to each of the seven counts charging him with conspiracy, wire fraud, computer fraud and abuse as well as aggravated identity theft in 2021.

• The initial allegation was that the duo tried to steal more than $550,000 in cryptocurrency. The latest announcement says the duo targeted "at least 10 identified victims" stealing "approximately $330,000 in cryptocurrency."

• Meiggs and Harrington "targeted executives of cryptocurrency companies and others who likely had significant amounts of cryptocurrency and those who had high value or “OG” (slang for Original Gangster) social media account names," the announcement said.

• SIM swapping is a way of bypassing two-factor authentication using mobile operators to break into sensitive websites like crypto exchanges and online banking. Several individuals in the cryptocurrency space have fallen victims to SIM swapping.