“Stole $24 Million But Still Can’t Keep a Friend”
Summary: A civil lawsuit filed by cryptocurrency investor Michael Terpin alleges that 21-year-old Nicholas Truglia and others stole almost $24 million in cryptocurrency after fraudulently executing a SIM swap on Terpin's AT&T mobile account in early 2018. Truglia was arrested on November 14, 2018 on suspicion of using SIM swaps to steal roughly $1 million from a different Silicon Valley executive, and an affidavit from acquaintance Chris David describes Truglia admitting the $24 million theft, holding Trezor drives he valued at over $40 million and $20 million, and possessing a fake New York driver's license bearing a deceased man's information.
What you should know: The theft ran through a phone number: banks and online services that rely on SMS one-time codes and phone-based password resets inherit the security of a carrier store employee, and the source notes that carrier PIN protections can be bypassed by incompetent or corrupt staff. Terpin is also pursuing a $200 million civil suit against AT&T, which puts the carrier's role in the loss directly in front of a court.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
- Data Breaches
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