The US Department of Justice accused a teenage hacker of stealing $5.2 million worth of cryptocurrencies

The US Department of Justice has accused a teenager and his accomplices of stealing cryptocurrencies from Silicon Valley workers. This was reported by Decrypt with reference to court materials.

The agency is trying to confiscate millions of dollars in Bitcoin that fraudster Ahmad Wagaafe Hared stole between 2016 and 2018. Prosecutors also insist on the return of a sports car, which was purchased using stolen cryptocurrency.

The source reports that the hacker used a SIM card swap scheme to steal digital assets worth $5.2 million. She suggests that the scammer forces the cellular operator to transfer control of the victim's mobile phone by pretending to be its owner.

As it became known, at the time of the crime the attacker lived in Arizona. He had an accomplice, Matthew Gene Ditman, from Nevada. Fraudsters have committed a number of crimes in Northern California by tricking customer service operators into revealing detailed information about SIM cards. Presumably, many of them belonged to the heads of companies associated with cryptocurrencies.

Although top executives have not been named, the region is home to Silicon Valley and an entire ecosystem of cryptocurrency companies and startups. In the indictment, prosecutors said the hackers called some victims after they had gained control of the accounts to extort them again.

Cybersecurity specialist Brian Krebs clarified that Harred is known on the so-called darknet under the name Winblo. Using part of the stolen funds, he bought a BMW i8 car worth about $150,000.

The scheme ended in 2019 when the FBI detained Harred and Dittman. At the time of publication, the fraudsters had not yet been sentenced.

In the fall of 2022, two Americans stole $330,000 worth of cryptocurrency through SIM card swapping. In April, mobile operator AT&T won a lawsuit in the case of theft of digital assets through SIM cards.