British national Joseph James O’Connor, known online as “PlugwalkJoe,” was arrested in Spain in 2021 and extradited to the US in April 2023. O’Connor engaged in SIM swapping attacks and stole $794,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a New York company in 2019. The attackers took over company executives’ phone numbers to steal from wallets managed by the company for its clients.
O’Connor also acknowledged his various schemes targeting high-profile accounts in 2020. Attackers took over roughly 130 Twitter accounts, including those of Jeff Bezos, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates, using internal administrative tools. O’Connor gained unauthorized access to and extorted the owners of two TikTok and Snapchat accounts. In June and July of 2020, he also swatted and harassed a minor online. O’Connor pled guilty to computer intrusion conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, stalking, making threats, and computer intrusion. He must pay a forfeiture of $794,000 and serve three years on supervised release.
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