San Francisco: Hacker Steals $1 Million in Crypto by SIM-swapping

A Hacker steals about $1 Million in Crypto from a San Francisco Man. This was carried out by the Hacker using the SIM-swapping method.

According to CNBC, Robert Ross, San Francisco resident saw that his phone had suddenly lost its signal on October 26th. To rectify the issue he visited the Apple and AT&T stores but he wasn’t fast enough. Because the Hacker had already stolen $500,000 worth crypto from his two accounts in Coinbase and Gemini.

Ross being a father of two daughters had been saving this money for their college tuitions in USD on crypto exchanges.

The accused hacker Nicholas Truglia (21), was caught and the officials searched his place and found $300,000 from a computer hard drive rest of missing maybe hard to find. Prosecutors noted that he also tried hacking other silicon valley executives accounts but he was not able to do it.

These type of crimes are a new wave in the crime world said Erin West, the deputy district attorney of Santa Clara County to CNBC.

West also added,

[ctt template=”7″ link=”gz04B” via=”yes” ]”It’s a new way of stealing of money: They target people that they believe to have cryptocurrency,”[/ctt]

The hacker is now being charged with 21 counts, includes identity theft, fraud, embezzlement and also grand theft in the case of Ross as per the documents by the court.

SIM-swapping has become one of the common crimes, recently we saw $5 million in Bitcoin is Stolen by SIM Hijackers. In this case, a gang hacks cell phone numbers in order to steal Bitcoins.

The cybersecurity experts alert the investors by saying they must safeguard their cellphone numbers as they do with the social security numbers. Also, they suggest investors keep their cryptocurrencies in “cold storage wallet”.

Let me know in the comment below if you have any new ideas to safeguard cryptocurrencies.