A British citizen who participated in the large-scale Twitter hack in July 2020 has been sentenced to five years in prison in the United States.
Joseph James O’Connor, also known as PlugwalkJoe, aged 24, received his sentence on Friday in the Southern District of New York, a little over a month after pleading guilty to the criminal activities. He was arrested in Spain in July 2021.
The well-known Twitter breach allowed O’Connor and his accomplices to gain unauthorized access to backend tools used by Twitter. They exploited these tools to take control of 130 popular accounts and carry out a cryptocurrency scam, which resulted in them making around $120,000 in illegal profits.
Image credits: Techcrunch
What else did they do?
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) stated that O’Connor and his partners also sold access to Twitter accounts to others. O’Connor was in contact with individuals interested in buying unauthorized access to various Twitter accounts, including those associated with public figures worldwide.
In addition to these crimes, O’Connor has been accused of orchestrating SIM-swapping attacks to seize control of users’ Snapchat and TikTok accounts. He even targeted a cryptocurrency company based in New York, stealing approximately $794,000.
Source: Tech crunch
According to the DoJ, “After stealing and fraudulently diverting the stolen cryptocurrency, O’Connor and his accomplices laundered it through multiple transfers and transactions. They also exchanged some cryptocurrency for Bitcoin using cryptocurrency exchange services.”
Ultimately, a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency was deposited into a cryptocurrency exchange account controlled by O’Connor.
During June and July 2020, O’Connor engaged in
- stalking and menacing behavior toward a minor victim
- In June, O’Connor orchestrated a series of swatting incidents
“Swatting involves making false emergency calls to authorities, creating a situation where law enforcement responds, potentially endangering the victim or others.”
- Additionally, O’Connor sent swatting messages to a high school, a restaurant, and a sheriff’s department in the same vicinity
- The following month, O’Connor made threatening phone calls to multiple family members of people with the intent to harm them.
What to conclude
Criminals are not always ordinary people. One must beware of such minds, as they could threaten our mental health and environment. Agencies do their best to catch them, but the fort and foremost duty is in our hands. Beware and keep yourself safe!
PureVPN
July 18, 2023
2 years ago
