A Rochester Institute of Technology student is among those charged by federal indictment in connection with a scheme to gain control of cryptocurrency wallets and accounts.

Reyad Gafar Abbas, 19, was one of six people charged in a 15-count indictment by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Michigan. Three other individuals were charged by criminal complaint.

Abbas is a third-year computer engineering student currently on leave this semester, the school confirmed.

The six individuals are tied to a "hacking group known to its members as 'The Community,'" according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"The members of 'The Community' charged in the indictment endeavored to gain control of victims’ cryptocurrency wallets or online cryptocurrency exchange accounts and steal victims’ funds," the release continued.

Abbas and five others are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Also indicted are:

Conor Freeman, 20, of Dublin, Ireland;

Ricky Handschumacher, 25 of Pasco County, Florida;

Colton Jurisic, 20 of Dubuque, Iowa;

Garrett Endicott, 21, of Warrensburg, Missouri;

Ryan Stevenson, 26, of West Haven, Connecticut.

Three former employees of mobile phone providers were charged by criminal complaint with wire fraud in association with the alleged crimes. They are:

Jarratt White, 22 of Tucson, Arizona;

Robert Jack, 22 of Tucson;

Fendley Joseph, 28, of Murrietta, California.

The hacking activities began in December 2017 and continued through May 2018, the indictment said.

The indictment alleges that members of "The Community" use a method known as "SIM hijacking" to steal the victims' identities. Prosecutors said, "Cryptocurrencies, also known as virtual currencies or digital currencies, are online media of exchange. The most famous of these is Bitcoin. Like traditional currency, they act as a store of value and can be exchanged for goods and services. They can also be exchanged for dollars."

According to investigative tech journalist Brian Krebs, "A SIM card is the tiny, removable chip in a mobile device that allows it to connect to the provider’s network."

He continued, "But SIM swaps are frequently abused by scam artists who trick mobile providers into tying a target’s service to a new SIM card and mobile phone that the attackers control."

Through "SIM hijacking" or swapping, members of the community allegedly exploited mobile phone numbers, which are a "common cyber-security weakness," prosecutors said. This allowed members of the organization to gain control of the victims' mobile phone numbers and resulted in phone calls and messages being routed to devices controlled by Community members.

The practice was arranged by bribing employees of a mobile phone provider, the indictment alleged. In other instances, members of the organization allegedly posed as the victim and contacted customer service for different mobile phone providers and requested that the victim's number be swapped to a SIM card controlled by the Community.

And once the Community had control of a victim's phone number, the number "was leveraged as a gateway to gain control of online accounts such as a victim’s email, cloud storage, and cryptocurrency exchange accounts," the indictment alleged. The Community members allegedly would reset online account passwords and request two-factor authentication codes to bypass other security measures.

White, Jack, and Joseph were employed by the mobile phone service providers and were bribed by Community members in order to steal identities, prosecutors said.

Among the instances: On Feb. 15, 2018, Community members allegedly "collaborated" to activate a SIM card and "fraudulently link" it to a victim's mobile phone number, which would allow them to pose as the victim, the indictment said.

One of the Community members posed as the victim to his mobile phone provide and then used the number "as a starting point" to "seize control of multiple online accounts," the indictment said. That included an email address, DropBox account, cryptocurrency exchange account and cryptocurrency wallet.

Abbas was allegedly among those from the Community who transferred $114,705 from the victim's cryptocurrency accounts to accounts they controlled.

“Mobile phones today are not only a means of communication but also a means of identification,” United States Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a release. “This case should serve as a reminder to all of us to protect our personal and financial information from those who seek to steal it.”

The Community members allegedly organized activities through online forums and "over diverse channels of communication" like Discord, Skype, Signal, Wickr, and Telegram, the indictment said.

"Stolen funds from a successful attack were divided among members of the Community that participated in that attack," the indictment said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents and Irish law enforcement authorities worked together on the case.

WCLEVELAND@Gannett.com

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