PANews reported on May 13 that according to Cointelegraph, Eric Council Jr., an accomplice in the hacking of the official X account of the US SEC, was exposed to have illegally earned $50,000 through SIM card swap attacks. New evidence submitted by the prosecution on May 12 showed that Council provided SIM hijacking services with the Telegram account "easymunny" from January to June 2024, charging $1,200-1,500 each time. He tricked AT&T employees into transferring the victim's mobile phone number by forging identity documents, and assisted his accomplices in controlling the SEC account on January 9, 2024 to publish false news of the approval of the Bitcoin ETF.
Investigators found records in Council's device that he had searched on Google for "how to confirm whether he is being investigated by the FBI" and "how long does it take to delete a Telegram account." Although his Telegram was set to automatically delete chat records every two weeks, he still retained conversations with overseas accomplices discussing SIM hijacking. Council was caught on surveillance while carrying out another SIM hijacking at an Apple store on June 18, 2024, and was subsequently arrested and pleaded guilty in February this year. The prosecutor recommended a two-year prison sentence, and the final verdict will be announced on May 16.
