Teenager accused of scamming cryptocurrency in SIM swap grift

A teenager allegedly hacked 75 phones and stole over a million dollars in cryptocurrency before his arrest earlier this month.

An alleged teen crook stole the identities of 75 people and swiped $US1 million ($A1.45 million) in cryptocurrency – all from the comfort of his Brooklyn apartment, authorities said.

Yousef Selassie, 19, used a sophisticated SIM-swapping scheme to take over the phones of people in 20 different states between January 20 and May 19, 2019, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

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SIM swap scams are often used by scammers to bypass two-factor authentication protocols to access your personal accounts.

He allegedly transferred his victims’ phone numbers to his own iPhones, enabling him to reset their passwords and gain access to their Gmail, cryptocurrency and other accounts. Meanwhile, his victims’ phones would suddenly go offline.

The stolen $US1 million came from just two victims, authorities said. Mr Selassie was arrested on December 5 in Corona, California, and extradited to New York.

He was arraigned on Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, where he pleaded not guilty to 87 counts of grand larceny, identity theft and other charges.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin has become a favourite among scammers because it’s stored online, can be stolen remotely and is hard to trace. Picture: Karen Bleier / AFP

Justice Mark Dwyer ordered him to surrender his passport and check in weekly with a supervised release program. The judge did not set bail.

Authorities executed search warrants on Mr Selassie’s Brooklyn and California residences, where they seized half a dozen iPhones, two Rolex watches, a monogrammed Gucci wallet and numerous pieces of high-end jewellery, according to court papers.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission