Richard Yuan Li, 20 years old, residing in California, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in dozens of SIM-swap attacks targeting around 20 individuals, including attempted extortion of a New Orleans-based doctor and crypto investor, who is only known as ‘Investor A.’ It is reported that Richard collaborated with other fraudsters from January 2018 until February 2019 to defraud numerous victims through SIM-swapping attacks, some of the co-conspirators are still unknown to the United States Attorney’s Office.
SIM-swap attacks enable perpetrators to access sensitive information on the victim’s phone.
SIM-swaps involve rerouting a victim’s SIM to phone in possession of the perpetrators, allowing them to gain access to personal information, including emails, bank accounts, and cryptocurrency wallets. After gaining access to the crypto wallet, the attacker then transfers the funds into his account. According to the complaint, Li first participated in a scheme to defraud Apple Inc. in 2018. The 20-year-old convinced the Apple customer support staff that they had not received an iPhone 8 that he had purchased from the company, Li and his co-conspirators were able to gain possession of a second device.
Li allegedly demanded 100 BTC in ransom.
Li and his co-conspirators gained control over Victim A’s email before accessing several of the physician’s accounts with various cryptocurrency exchanges. After stealing some cryptocurrency form the victim’s phone, the group rang the physician to demand a ransom of 100 Bitcoins to prevent sensitive information from being leaked and purportedly restore control over his crypto accounts.
According to the complaint, during October 2018 and December 2018, Richard allegedly participated in 28 SIM-swapping attacks that targeted at least 19 other victims. The SIM swap attacks have been quite prevalent in the last few years. Several companies are also facing lawsuits for not taking actions in time to stop these attacks from happening.
