A 24-year-old New York man boasted that he helped steal more than $20 million in cryptocurrency from a technology executive. He admitted to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Nicholas Trulia The organization allegedly used fraudulent “SIM swaps” to steal more than 100 million U.S. dollars from cryptocurrency investors. Identity thieves hijacked the target’s mobile phone number and used it to control the victim’s online identity.
Weather in Trulia Admit to the Federal Court of New York that he let a friend use his account on an encrypted trading platform Binance Virtual currency laundering more than 20 million U.S. dollars in 2018 Michael Turpin, A cryptocurrency investor, he co-founded the first angel investor group of Bitcoin enthusiasts.
After the theft, Terpin filed a civil lawsuit against Truglia in the Los Angeles Superior Court. In May 2019, the jury ruled that Terpin had awarded Truglia US$75.8 million. In January 2020, a New York grand jury filed a criminal lawsuit against Truglia (PDF) for his involvement in Terpin’s cryptocurrency theft.
A SIM card is a tiny, removable chip in a mobile device that allows it to connect to the provider’s network. When a customer’s mobile device is damaged or lost, or when they switch to a different mobile phone that requires a SIM card of another size, the customer can legally request a replacement of the SIM card.
Nicholas Trullia, holding the bottle. Image: twitter.com/erupts
But fraudulent SIM exchanges are often abused by crooks, who trick mobile providers into linking targeted services with new SIM cards and mobile phones controlled by crooks. Unauthorized SIM exchanges are usually carried out by fraudsters who have stolen or phished target passwords, because many financial institutions and online services rely on SMS to send users a one-time code for multi-factor authentication.
To further complicate the threat, many websites allow customers to reset their passwords by simply clicking a link sent via SMS to a mobile phone number associated with the account, which means that anyone in control of the phone number can reset these accounts Password.
When seeking comment, Turpin said his attacker could easily escape.
“After nearly four years and hundreds of pages of evidence, the best evidence that a prosecutor can recommend is a plea bargaining, a single, relatively small count of unauthorized use of Binance trading accounts, when all the evidence points to When I was Truglia, I was angry that it was one of the two masterminds of a widespread criminal conspiracy to steal cryptocurrency from me and others,” Turpin told KrebsOnSecurity.
Terpin said that public court records have shown that Truglia brags about stealing his funds and using it to fund a luxurious lifestyle.
“He took at least 100 bitcoins from my theft (worth 1.6 million US dollars at the time and nearly 5 million US dollars today) into his wallet on another exchange in the United States, and then transferred or spent them,” Teping Say. “The fact is that the intentional theft of 24 million U.S. dollars, whether it is holding a gun in a bank or exchanging a SIM card, is a felony. Truglia should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Nicholas Truglia displays a diamond-encrusted Piaget watch on a private jet. Image: twitter.com/erupts.
Terpin is still filing a civil lawsuit against the 18-year-old Ellis Pinsky, He was accused of working with Truglia to steal more than 100 million U.S. dollars in cryptocurrency as part of the SIM exchange team. According to Terpin, Pinsky was 15 years old when he participated in the $24 million SIM exchange in 2018, but after confronting Terpin’s investigators, he returned $2 million worth of cryptocurrency.
“On the surface, Pinsky is an’all American boy,'” Turpin’s civil lawsuit charges. “The privileged son, he actively participates in extracurricular activities and lives in the suburbs with the doting mother of a famous doctor.”
“Despite their healthy appearance, Pinsky and his other accomplices are actually evil computer geniuses with anti-social characteristics. They ruthlessly ruined the lives of innocent victims and happily brag about their multi-million dollar robbery. ,” the lawsuit continued. “Pinsky reportedly used his ill-gotten wealth to buy millions of dollars in watches and went to nightclubs in high-end clubs in New York City, while Truglia rented a private jet and played a dashing playboy with a young woman pampering him. .”
Pinksy could not be reached immediately for comment. However, a review of the latest documents in the lawsuit revealed that Pinsky’s lawyers no longer represent him because he no longer has the funds to pay for their services. The latest entry in the Southern District of New York file requires the court to give Pinsky more time to seek a lawyer, and hints that unless he may eventually represent himself.
Photos uploaded by Ellis Pinsky to his social media profile.
Truglia is still under criminal prosecution in Santa Clara, California. The working group is home to the REACT working group, which traces SIM card exchange cases across the country. In November 2018, REACT investigators and New York authorities Arrested Trulia Suspected of using a SIM card in exchange for stealing cryptocurrency worth about 1 million U.S. dollars Robert Rose, The father of two children in San Francisco, later founded a victim rights website stopsimcrime.org.
according to Published report, Truglia and his associates also exchanged SIM for the CEO of blockchain storage service 0Chain; Vice President of Hall Capital Partners and hedge fund Myles Danielson (Myles Danielson); and Gabrielle, co-founder of startup SMBX Katsnelson.
Truglia is currently scheduled to be sentenced in April 2022 for his guilty plea in New York. He will face up to 20 years in prison.
Irene WestThe Deputy District Attorney of Santa Clara County told KrebsOnSecurity that SIM card exchange is still a major issue. But she said that many of the victims they are helping are relatively new cryptocurrency investors, and SIM swap attacks may cause economic losses for them.
“Initially, the SIM exchange target was an early adopter of encryption,” West said. “Now we see more of what I call ordinary people trying to encrypt, which makes more people a target. It makes people who are not familiar with online personal security vulnerable to hackers, and the hacker’s entire job is to figure it out. How to separate people from their money.”
West stated that REACT will continue to train state and local law enforcement officials across the country on how to successfully investigate and prosecute SIM exchange cases.
“The good news is that our partners across the country are learning how to handle these cases,” she said. “Three years ago this was a relatively new phenomenon, and other smaller jurisdictions across the country are now learning how to prosecute this crime.”
All major wireless operators allow customers to increase the security of SIM exchange and related solutions by setting a PIN that needs to be provided by phone or in person at the store before changing the account. But these security features may be bypassed by incompetent or corrupt mobile store employees.
For some tips on how to minimize your chances of becoming the next victim of a SIM card exchange, check out “What can you do?” at the end of this story.
