James O’Connor, known as ‘PlugwalkJoe’, is also claimed by the US for stealing bitcoins
MADRID, 7 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The National High Court celebrates this Thursday the extradition hearing of James O’Connor, known as ‘PlugwalkJoe’, the British citizen who was arrested last July in Estepona after being claimed by the United States accused of ‘hacking’ numerous Twitter accounts , including some belonging to politicians, celebrities and companies.
The actions of the young hacker, 23 years old, would be punished in Spain with the crimes of discovery and revelation of secrets and one of extortion. But, in addition, O’Connor is also claimed for the alleged theft of bitcoins, for which he is accused of a crime of illicit access to computer systems, computer fraud, money laundering and belonging to a criminal organization.
According to the United States Department of Justice, the ‘hacking’ would have begun in July 2020 and would have been directed against the Twitter accounts of characters of all kinds, including those of the current North American president, Joe Biden, and that of his predecessor Barack Obama, as well as those of the tycoon Bill Gates or those of Apple and Uber.
The Prosecutor’s Office, which is interested in his extradition, explains that O’Connor conspired that month to “operate a plot” that sought to “exchange access to Twitter accounts obtained illegally and without authorization for cryptocurrency payments.” ‘PlugwalkJoe’ then teamed up with three other people, with whom he sold the same and laundered the proceeds through online forex transactions.
From these profiles, he offered followers to be able to double the money they entered in Bitcoins in a virtual account, thus perpetrating a scam. The FBI then began an investigation involving numerous teams such as the United States Secret Service, United Kingdom authorities and the National Police, who finally arrested O’Connor at his house in the city of Malaga.
HARASSMENT OF A 16-YEAR-OLD WOMAN
But, in addition to his “role in the Twitter hack,” O’Connor was also “involved” in two hacks on social media accounts associated with two public figures, while also being accused of committing “cyber stalking against a minor victim.” old”.
In the case of the first victim, the hacker, along with the other defendants, took control of his TikTok account and uploaded several videos that included audio recordings of O’Connor’s own voice and references to his nickname.
With another of those affected, the plot went further. It was June 2019 when the defendants took over his Snapchat account, from which they obtained nude photographs. O’Connor himself was in charge of forwarding his images to his collaborators, even threatening to publish them unless he published a message assuring that the hackers had returned his account.
FALSE EMERGENCY REPORTS IN CALIFORNIA
A year later, in June 2020, O’Connor participated in what is known as ‘swatting’, a kind of practical joke that is performed by calling emergency services simulating false alarms. Thus, he used the phone of a 16-year-old girl to call the Garden Grove Police Department and the county fire department located in California, reporting events that never really happened.
That same day O’Connor sent a threat to a high school posing as the victim, threatening to shoot at the town school. In addition, after accessing his Reddit account, he posted messages against two restaurants. The hacker even called the affected person’s parents, threatening to kill several of her relatives.
In addition to the facts previously reported, the United States presented a new extradition request including the aforementioned crimes of illicit access to computer systems, computer fraud, money laundering and belonging to a criminal organization, also having the approval of the prosecutor for delivery.
THEFT OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES FROM A MANHATTAN COMPANY
All this, collects the letter of the Public Ministry, for the computer attacks that O’Connor perpetrated between March and May 2019 together with other people, together with those who managed to access several accounts and computer systems of a cryptocurrency company located in Manhattan .
Thanks to this attack they were able to gain control of the mobile phone of an executive of the company itself, linking it to a card from which they managed to divert their calls and messages to another device. They then gained unauthorized access to the victim’s accounts registered with that mobile phone number.
The organization seized cryptocurrencies worth approximately $784,000 (€685,247.360) and included approximately 770.784869 Bitcoin cash, 6,363.490509 Litecoin, 407.3960974 Ethereum, and about 7.456728 Bitcoin. They then proceeded to launder the money through dozens of transfers, transactions, and exchanges of cryptocurrencies for Bitcoin.
It will be this Thursday from 09:45 a.m. when O’Connor faces extradition for the hacking of Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok accounts. A few minutes later, in the same room, the hacker will attend the hearing for the latest facts, related to the theft of the cryptocurrency.
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