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LOS ANGELES – A Clarkston, Michigan man was sentenced today to 42 months in federal prison for his role in a series of “SIM exchange” schemes that allowed him and his accomplices to manage online accounts, resulting in the theft of cryptocurrency, and more. more than $28,000 was lost.
Anthony Joseph Carlson, 25, also ran a special “phishing” campaign to capture valuable Instagram accounts, which he was able to cash in on. And he defrauded other victims by buying stolen Instagram accounts, losing more than $93,000.
Carlson was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson, who set a hearing for January 18, 2023, to determine the amount of restitution the defendant will be ordered to pay up to 10 people and companies.
Carlson pleaded guilty Aug. 22 to four felony counts — two counts of wire fraud and two counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information.
Judge Anderson today emphasized the seriousness of cybercrime by saying, “It’s almost as if the victim was robbed by a predator,” later adding, “You don’t rest because of because you used a computer.”
SIM switching is a scam in which mobile phone service providers are tricked into reassigning the victim’s mobile phone number to a new mobile phone controlled by the fraudster, without their knowledge, with or without authorization. A new mobile phone device has a new Subscriber Identity Card (SIM) and therefore, SIM switching. After hijacking a victim’s phone service, the SIM swapper can obtain information about the victim, including password reset codes for the victim’s online accounts. Carlson and others worked in SIM swapping schemes to reset victims’ account passwords, take over victims’ online accounts and steal cryptocurrencies.
Carlson was involved in two separate schemes to use SIM swapping to gain unauthorized access to email, bank and social media accounts of victims of cryptocurrency theft. One project that didn’t quite die was taking over a Coinbase account to steal $10,000 in cryptocurrency, and the second was taking over a Facebook account that allowed Carlson and an associate to receive crypto from two friends of a person whose account has been compromised.
As a result of a special phishing campaign – in which Carlson sent emails purporting to be from a legitimate source to encourage victims to reveal information, including personally identifiable information and passwords – he was able to control over large Instagram accounts with a large number of followers. . Carlson told the victims who owned Instagram accounts that he wanted to buy ads on their accounts, but first he needed to determine how much money they had for marketing purposes. Carlson encouraged victims to download his so-called analytics software, a fake website name similar to the widely used Instagram analytics software, and trick them into providing their Instagram usernames and their passwords, which Carlson used to take over their Instagram accounts in exchange for money. for his own benefit.
Carlson also obtained stolen Instagram accounts from others and then resold them to other victims for thousands of dollars. In another project, Carlson collected money for advertising on Instagram accounts he didn’t actually control.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation into the matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Lisa E. Feldman of the Animal Crimes and Psychiatric Section prosecuted the case.
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