Inner City Press reported that a British man, who earned around $900,000 from a complex Twitter hack and a separate crypto-related SIM-swapping scheme, has been sentenced to five years in prison by a federal judge.
A 24-year-old named Joseph James O’Connor recently admitted his involvement in various online scams, including a major Twitter hack that occurred in July 2020. During the hack, O’Connor impersonated famous individuals like Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and more. The purpose of the impersonation was to promote a fraudulent Bitcoin scheme.
According to Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams, Joseph James O’Connor misused his advanced technical skills for harmful intentions. He carried out a sophisticated SIM swap attack to unlawfully acquire substantial sums of cryptocurrency. In addition, O’Connor hacked into Twitter and engaged in computer intrusions to gain control over social media accounts. Shockingly, he also cyberstalked two individuals, one of whom was a minor. Williams made this statement when O’Connor pleaded guilty to the charges.
During the sentencing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Jed Rakoff acknowledged the impact of Joseph O’Connor’s actions on people’s lives.
Taking into account Joseph O’Connor’s young age and autism, Judge Rakoff factored these circumstances into the sentencing decision. O’Connor, who had already served 23 months in prison before the sentencing, requested that he not be given any additional time. The judge acknowledged the time already served and credited it towards his sentence. Prosecutors, on the other hand, had argued for a seven-year sentence.
In addition, O’Connor admitted guilt in the case involving the theft of $794,012.64 from a cryptocurrency company based in Manhattan. He accomplished this by engaging in SIM swapping techniques targeting certain executives of the company. As part of his guilty plea, O’Connor has agreed to surrender the exact amount he stole.
