Eric Council Jr., the SIM swap hacker who helped compromise the Securities and Exchange Commission\u2019s X account last year, made $50,000 performing similar attacks and even searched how to tell if the FBI is investigating him, recent filings show.<\/p>\n
The recent filing was part of the prosecutor\u2019s request to sentence him to two years in prison<\/a> over his role in the hack, which saw the SEC X account publish a false announcement that a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund was approved, shaking up the markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Council searched: \u201cHow can I know for sure if I am being investigated by the FBI\u201d and \u201cHow long does it take to delete Telegram account,\u201d US prosecutors discovered following a search warrant of his house, car and devices last June, according to a May 12 court filing.<\/p>\n While Council\u2019s Telegram chats were set up to be removed after two weeks, US prosecutors still found chats of Council discussing SIM swaps with others believed to be located overseas.<\/p>\n Council also admitted to law enforcement that he received around $50,000 for performing SIM swaps for clients between January to June 2024. He advertised himself as a SIM swapping expert on Telegram under the username easymunny, offering services for payment between $1,200 and $1,500.<\/p>\n Council executed the SIM swap<\/a> by creating fake identity documents to specifically impersonate someone that his co-conspirators identified as having access to the SEC\u2019s X account.<\/p>\n These fake documents were then used to trick a staff worker at telecommunications firm AT&T into reassigning the victim\u2019s phone number to Council\u2019s SIM card.\u00a0<\/p>\n Council inside an AT&T Store on Jan. 9, 2024. Source: US Government<\/em><\/p>\n Council had to share the last four digits of the victim\u2019s Social Security number and driver\u2019s license to effectuate the SIM swap.<\/p>\n He then bought a new iPhone from an Alabama Apple store, inserted the new SIM and shared the access codes to the SEC\u2019s X account with his co-conspirators, who later posted the fake news about the spot Bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 9. The Bitcoin products received official approval the following day.<\/p>\n Council received payment for the SEC SIM swap in Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) and other cryptocurrencies, the prosecutors said.<\/p>\n However, Council\u2019s luck ran out on June 12, 2024, when surveillance agents observed him attempting to execute a SIM swap at an Apple store, impersonating another victim.<\/p>\n Law enforcement executed a search warrant six days later and recovered several pieces of circumstantial evidence, including templates for fake identification cards on his laptop.<\/p>\n Two fake ID documents recovered from Council\u2019s Telegram account. Source: US Government<\/em><\/p>\n He pleaded guilty on Feb. 10, after a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging him with Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Identity Theft and Access Device Fraud last October.<\/a><\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>SEC Chair: Blockchain ‘holds promise’ of new kinds of market activity<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The fake post accumulated over 1 million views before the SEC confirmed it had been hacked roughly 15 minutes later.<\/p>\n The two announcements resulted in Bitcoin\u2019s price initially rising $1,000 before abruptly falling nearly $2,000 shortly after, wiping out tens of millions of dollars worth of market positions.<\/p>\n The security team at X confirmed that the SEC didn\u2019t have two-factor authentication<\/a> installed on its X account at the time of the incident. The SEC claimed it initially had 2FA enabled but was erroneously removed<\/a> by X Support following a request by an SEC staff member.<\/p>\nHow Eric Council Jr. pulled the hack off, then got caught<\/h2>\n