Hacker Group Arrested for SIM Swapping and Stealing Millions

The UK’s National Crime Agency has announced that earlier this week, law enforcement officers in England and Scotland arrested eight individuals involved in SIM swapping schemes that targeted American celebrities and wealthy individuals. The group’s attacks often affected well-known athletes, musicians, and other public figures.

Europol representatives added that these arrests are part of a larger operation that began in Malta and Belgium, where other members of the same criminal group had previously been detained. The investigation started last year following the large-scale Twitter hack and involved authorities from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Malta, and Belgium.

How the Scheme Worked

According to officials, the criminals used a classic method: they tricked employees of American mobile carriers into assigning a celebrity’s phone number to a SIM card controlled by the hackers. With access to the victim’s number, the scammers could reset passwords and bypass two-factor authentication on various accounts. In total, this activity brought the group over $100 million in cryptocurrency.

“This allowed them to steal money, Bitcoin, and personal information, including contacts synced with online accounts,” law enforcement stated. “They also took over social media accounts to post content and send messages on behalf of the victims.”