On Wednesday, the European police agency, Europol, announced that it had assisted in the arrest of 10 hackers. The 10 individuals are being accused of stealing $100 million in cryptocurrency using “SIM-swapping” attacks. This type of attack allows criminals to gain access to their victims’ phones, by tricking the phone company into deactivating a working SIM card and transferring its functions to the hackers.
Europol stated that “the attacks orchestrated by this criminal gang targeted thousands of victims throughout 2020, including famous internet influencers, sport stars, musicians and their families.” The investigation was supported by Britain, the US, Belgium, Malta and Canada. The victims have not been identified and Europol warned the public not to use services that use text messages to log into their online accounts.
