Key Takeaways
- An Alabama man orchestrated a SIM swap to illegally access and manipulate the SEC’s Twitter account.
- The fraudulent Bitcoin ETF approval tweet caused a rapid $1,000 increase and subsequent $2,000 decrease in Bitcoin prices.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) today announced the arrest of Eric Council Jr., 25, of Athens, Alabama, in connection with a January 2024 unauthorized takeover of the US SEC’s X account. The hack led to a false announcement about spot Bitcoin ETFs, causing major market disruption.
The FBI said that Council and his co-conspirators used a SIM swap attack to gain control of the SEC’s X account and posted a fraudulent message claiming the SEC had approved Bitcoin ETFs. The false announcement caused Bitcoin’s price to surge by $1,000, only to fall by over $2,000 after the SEC corrected the misinformation.
Council faces charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud, with his initial court appearance scheduled for today in the Northern District of Alabama.
This is a developing story.
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