Last month, Ahmad Wagaafe Hared, a young hacker based in the United States, was ordered to forfeit approximately $5.2 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC), Stellar (XLM), and a BMW sports car to the government. According to a report, this order was made last week due to Hared’s involvement in a SIM-swapping scheme that targeted crypto executives in North California and the Bay Area.
The Bitcoin SIM-Swapping Hack
The SIM-swapping scheme, orchestrated by Hared–who went by the alias “winblo” — began in 2016 and was stopped by local authorities in 2019.
Hared and his accomplices obtained their victims’ contact information before entering a plea agreement with law enforcement agencies. They would then contact cellphone service providers, manipulating company representatives into believing they were the legitimate owners of the targeted phone numbers.
After that, they swapped cards, illegally taking control of their victims’…
