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posted by martyb on Monday June 01 2020, @06:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the one-of-the-reasons-why-I-don't-carry-$millions-on-my-phone dept.

New York Teen Masterminds $23.8m Crypto Heist:

An American cryptocurrency investor is suing a New York high school senior over the theft of $23.8m in digital currencies.

Michael Terpin has filed a civil complaint against 18-year-old Ellis Pinsky alleging that in 2018, at the tender age of 15, Pinsky masterminded a plot to defraud Terpin out of millions.

Pinsky was allegedly the leader of what Terpin described as a "gang of digital bandits" who stole from multiple victims after using SIM swapping to gain control of their smartphones.

[...] In May last year, Terpin won a $75.8m civil judgement in a California state court in a related case against an alleged associate of Pinsky, Nicholas Truglia, who has faced criminal hacking charges. Now Terpin is gunning for Pinsky, seeking triple damages of $71.4m.

According to Reuters, court records show that Terpin is also suing his carrier AT&T Mobility in Los Angeles for $240m.

To his classmates at Irvington High School, Pinsky was an unremarkable individual who achieved decent grades and liked playing soccer.

At the time of the alleged crypto-heist, Pinsky was living in a $1.3m home he shared with his family. An anonymous insider told the New York Post that Pinsky explained his newfound wealth to his parents by saying that he had gotten lucky making Bitcoin online through video games.

The teen allegedly used the stolen money to travel by private jet, purchase an Audi R8, and splash out on the latest sneakers.

Previously:
(2018-08-20) AT&T Gets Sued Over Two-Factor Security Flaws and $23M Cryptocurrency Theft


Original Submission

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AT&T Gets Sued Over Two-Factor Security Flaws and $23M Cryptocurrency Theft 38 comments

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666

If hackers can convince your phone company to turn over your number to them, they can defeat two-factor authentication that relies on text messaging.

Crypto investor Michael Terpin filed a $224 million lawsuit against AT&T in California federal court Wednesday alleging that the phone company’s negligence let hackers steal nearly $24 million in cryptocurrency from him, Reuters reports. He’s also seeking punitive damages.

Terpin says hackers were twice able to convince AT&T to connect his phone number to a SIM card they controlled, routing his calls and messages to them and enabling them to defeat two-factor authentication protections on his accounts. In one case, he says hackers also took control of his Skype account and convinced one of this clients to send money to them rather than Terpin.

The second hack came even after AT&T agreed to put an additional passcode on his account, when a fraudster visited an AT&T store in Connecticut and managed to hijack Terpin’s account without providing the code or a “scannable ID” as AT&T requires, he says.

Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/90219499/att-gets-sued-over-two-factor-security-flaws-and-23m-cryptocurrency-theft


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Monday June 01 2020, @06:49AM (4 children)

    by Bot (3902) on Monday June 01 2020, @06:49AM (#1001632) Journal

    >become millionaire
    >purchase R8 when Ferraris made by hand at the time that Enzo was still alive, are still available and cheaper and sound better

    reason enough to jail him tbh

    --
    Account abandoned.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @01:40PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @01:40PM (#1001684)

      At the time of the alleged crypto-heist, Pinsky was living in a $1.3m home he "shared" with his family.
      Huh?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @02:49PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @02:49PM (#1001705)

        I read that as he purchased the home himself, and invited his parents and siblings to live in it as opposed to living in a house his parents bought.

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @03:03PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @03:03PM (#1001714)

          Prosecutors will make this argument whether it is true or not. See: Proceeds of crime and Civil asset forfeiture.
          Cut them off from their money and force a plea deal.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @07:40PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @07:40PM (#1001844)

      Seems like a smart kid to me. While he bought toys, he didn't throw the money away on hookers and blow.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @04:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @04:22PM (#1001753)
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @06:05PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @06:05PM (#1001806)

    should have moved to non extradition country right after making the money.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @09:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @09:41PM (#1001896)

      What money?

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