Three people have been indicted for masterminding a SIM swap scam that stole more than $400 million from the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
According to an indictment filed by the Justice Department in federal court in Washington, Robert Powell, Emily Hernandez, and Carter Rohn collected the personal data of approximately 50 victims and used that information to convince cellphone service providers to transfer the victims' phone numbers to them. Holding on fake mobile phone. Doing so allowed the trio to intercept text messages - including multi-factor authentication codes, which allowed them to break into victims' financial accounts and crypto wallets.
The indictment does not mention FTX, but two people familiar with the case confirmed that "Victim Company-1" in the court documents is actually FTX.
On approximately November 11, 2022, Hernandez used a fake ID with FTX employee details to convince AT&T to transfer the mobile phone account to another SIM card. The gang’s alleged mastermind, Powell – who goes by the nicknames ‘R$’ and ElSwapo1 online – then used various authentication codes to access FTX’s crypto wallets.
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