FBI Arrests US SEC Twitter Hacker Responsible For Fake Bitcoin ETF Approval Post

The FBI has arrested Eric Council Jr., 25, of Athens, Alabama, in connection with the January 2024 unauthorized takeover of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X account, previously known as Twitter.

The arrest follows allegations that Council played a key role in a hacking incident that led to a false post from the SEC Chair’s account, which caused a temporary spike in the value of Bitcoin.

US SEC Twitter Hacker Responsible For Fake Bitcoin ETF Arrested

According to the indictment, Eric Council was involved in a conspiracy to take control of the US SEC’s X account on January 9, 2024.

The method used was a “SIM swap” attack, a type of fraud where a phone number is illegally reassigned from its rightful owner to a device controlled by the hacker. Using this method, Council and his co-conspirators gained access to the SEC’s account.

After taking control, they posted a fake message from the SEC Chair, falsely claiming that the agebnxy had approved the listing of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on all national securities exchanges. This announcement caused Bitcoin’s price to increase by over $1,000. However, once the US SEC regained control of its account and issued a correction, Bitcoin’s price fell by more than $2,000.

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