A Florida man, linked to the infamous Scattered Spider hacking gang, has pleaded responsible to fees associated to cryptocurrency thefts which have netted tons of of 1000’s of {dollars}.
20-year-old Noah Michael City of Palm Coast, Florida, who was arrested in January 2024, has admitted committing crimes associated to SIM swap fraud, aggravated id theft, and the theft of US $800,000 value of Bitcoin and Ethereum from 5 cryptocurrency traders whose digital wallets had been compromised.
Prosecutors described how City and different members of the Scattered Spider gang stole victims’ private info to assist them hijack the telephone numbers of cryptocurrency traders, after which abuse their unauthorised entry to grab management of victims’ on-line accounts, and break into their cryptocurrency wallets.
“Scattered Spider” change into notorious because the cybercrime syndicate behind the headline-generating hacks of the Las Vegas casinos MGM Resorts and Caesars, amongst different excessive profile victims.
Scattered Spider made a reputation for themselves by means of the audacity of their assaults, which noticed them pose as a IT employees to trick staff into handing over login credentials and one-time-passwords, or operating instruments which gave them distant entry instruments to inner programs. In some circumstances, gang members had no qualms about contacting focused people by way of telephone in an try and socially engineer them into handing over delicate info.
City, who was higher identified on-line by handles together with “King Bob” (a reference to the “Minions” film, “Sosa”, and “Elijah”), had gained himself widespread notoriety after leaking songs from well-known music artists similar to Ariana Grande, Lil Uzi Vert, and Playboi Carti – disrupting deliberate album releases. The theft of the music is believed to have taken place after City broke into the accounts of music business executives by way of SIM swap assaults.
City’s luck ran out in January 2024 when he was arrested by legislation enforcement companies. Throughout the raid, City was reported to have tried to wipe his laptop and social media historical past, in an obvious try and destroy proof.
As a part of City’s plea deal, he has agreed to forfeit his jewelry, forex, and cryptocurrency belongings, and can pay US $13 million restitution to 59 victims. He’s anticipated to be sentenced inside the subsequent 75 days.
Prices towards a few of City’s alleged co-conspirators stay in place, whereas different suspected members of the Scattered Spider gang – a few of whom seem to have carried out a poor job at masking their tracks – proceed to stay seemingly carefree for now in nations throughout the globe.
