A U.K. citizen was arrested for allegedly participating in the hacking of more than 130 Twitter accounts linked to various American politicians, celebrities, and companies last year.
Joseph O’Connor, 22, was arrested in Spain by Spanish National Police on Wednesday in connection to the July 15, 2020, hack, in which the perpetrators were able to override the accounts of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, and other notable figures to push a cryptocurrency scam.
O’Connor was charged with three counts of conspiracy to intentionally access a computer with authorization and obtaining information from a protected computer; two counts of intentionally accessing a computer without authorization and obtaining information from a protected computer; one count of conspiracy to intentionally access a computer without authorization and, with the intent to extort from a person a thing of value, transmitting a communication containing a threat; one count of making extortive communications; one count of making threatening communications; and two counts of cyberstalking, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
The United States is seeking his extradition.
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The July 2020 scam instructed Twitter users to send cryptocurrency to a specific Bitcoin address, promising they would receive double in return. The scammers were able to pocket $100,000 worth of Bitcoin.
“I am giving back to my fans,” the scam tweet read. “All Bitcoin sent to my address below will be sent back doubled. I am only doing a maximum of $10,000,000. [Address redacted] Only going on for 30 minutes!”
The San Francisco branch of the FBI is leading the investigation, with assistance from the IRS Criminal Investigation Cyber Unit, Secret Service, and Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.
The 22-year-old is also facing charges for computer intrusions related to hacking TikTok and Snapchat users’ accounts and cyberstalking a juvenile victim.
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Three other people have been charged in connection to the hacking, according to a San Francisco CBS affiliate: Graham Ivan Clark of Florida, Mason Sheppard of the United Kingdom, and Nima Fazeli of Orlando.
