The FBI arrests a man who hacked the SEC’s Twitter account and drove up the price of Bitcoin

The FBI has arrested the man it believes was hacked and posted from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s X (META+0.04%) (formerly Twitter) account in January, causing the price of Bitcoin to skyrocket.

Eric Council Jr., a 25-year-old Alabama resident, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud, the FBI said said Thursday.

On January 9th, the Council and others conspired to get into the @SECGov It said: “Today, the SEC is approving #Bitcoin ETFs to list on all registered national securities exchanges.”

According to the indictment, the price of Bitcoin increased by more than $1,000 apiece after the post. After the SEC regained control of her account and issued a statement clarifying that the post was the result of a violation, the price of Bitcoin crashed by more than $2,000.

At the time, cryptocurrency investors were eagerly awaiting the regulator’s approval of Bitcoin ETFs, which would allow Bitcoin-related assets to be traded as exchange-traded funds. The SEC has given its official approval of Bitcoin products the following day.

According to the indictments, the SEC and X confirmed that the hack was carried out using a method known as “SIM swapping.” A fraudster pretends to be someone else at a mobile phone provider and steals their SIM data, including their phone number.

The indictment states that the council obtained additional personal identifying information to create a fake ID card that he used to obtain a SIM card linked to the victim’s phone line. He then used cash to purchase a new iPhone and received access codes to the @SECGov-X account, which he allegedly shared with co-conspirators to gain access to the account.

After publishing the fake post, the council allegedly received payment in Bitcoin before returning the iPhone. He later conducted internet searches for “SECGOV hack,” “Telegram sim swap,” “How can I know for sure if I am under investigation by the FBI,” and “What are the signs that you are under investigation by law enforcement.” “FBI, even if you have not been contacted by them,” the agency said.

“These SIM swap schemes, in which fraudsters trick service providers into giving them control of unsuspecting victims’ phones, can result in devastating financial losses to victims and the loss of sensitive personal and private information,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves. “Here the conspirators are said to have used their illegal access to a telephone to manipulate the financial markets.”

Council will make its first court appearance in the Northern District of Alabama on Thursday.