US Authorities Arrest Man Responsible for Fake SEC Bitcoin ETF Approval Tweet

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested an individual responsible for posting a fake tweet announcing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) earlier of year

Authorities have charged 25-year-old Eric Council with conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

FBI arrests man behind fake SEC tweet

While the crypto community was highly anticipating the SEC’s approval of the first US-domiciled Bitcoin ETFs on January 9, the Board hijacked the agency’s X account and published a false ad that the products had have been approved for negotiation.

The news caused the price of bitcoin (BTC) to rise from $1,000 to $47,800 in a matter of minutes. However, the asset quickly lost $2,000 and fell to $45,400 after the SEC debunked the tweet, revealing that hackers had compromised his X account and made the unauthorized post.

After investigation by several US agencies, authorities found that Council and his co-conspirators gained control of the SEC account through a subscriber identity module (SIM) swapping attack.

A SIM swap involves combining social engineering tactics to transfer a phone number from a SIM card belonging to a victim to another SIM card controlled by cybercriminals. This allows hackers to exploit weaknesses in security procedures such as two-factor authentication and gain access to victims’ accounts and private information.

How did the Council attack the SEC?

A complaint by the US Attorney’s office accused the Council of using the stolen identity of a person who had access to the SEC’s X account to take over his phone number. Council, who also goes by the online pseudonyms Ronin, Easymunny and AGiantSchnauzer, allegedly obtained the SEC employee’s personally identifiable information (PII) from his co-conspirators.

The defendant then used the PII to create a false ID, which he used to do the SIM swap at a cell phone supplier store in Huntsville, Alabama. The Board subsequently purchased a new iPhone and used the new SIM card and mobile device to obtain access codes to the SEC’s X account.

After posting the fake tweet, the Council allegedly received a BTC payment from its co-conspirators for a job well done and eventually returned the iPhone for cash.

In particular, the Council became paranoid after the incident and conducted Internet searches to find out “if I’m being investigated by the FBI.” He is expected to appear in court for the Northern District of Alabama on Thursday.

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