The Manhattan police department has recently arrested a 21-year-old Manhattan resident, who goes by the name Nicholas Truglia. Truglia was arrested for his involvement in a crypto theft that saw about $1million worth of cryptos stolen. He is also been accused of hacking the mobile devices of some Silicon Valley executives in order to access their crypto wallets illegally.

Nicholas Truglia Arrested

Truglia is said to have hacked his way into one Mr Richard Ross’ account to gain access to his crypto exchange and wallet holdings.

He reportedly stole a totally of $1Milliom from Ross’ accounts. According to a report filed with the police department, Richard Ross who is a San Francisco resident made it known that he could not access his mobile on October 26 only to discover that a total of $1 million has vanished from his accounts on Coinbase and Gemini crypto exchanges.

Truglia did not stop his operation with Ross, he also hacked his way into other Silicon Valley Executives, such as the VP of Hall Capital Partners, Co-Founder of SMBX and the CEO of a blockchain custodial service company.

According to a recent report from the deputy DA Erin West, who is a member of the cybersecurity task force, Truglia hacked his victims crypto accounts through a process known as sim swapping.

Sim-Swapping

Sim-Swapping, although an old method of infiltrating victim’s devices, has recently gained popularity in recent time. Several crypto hacking relating to it has been repeated in the past few months. The simplicity of the method is another reason why it has become crypto hacker’s favourite.

With Sim Swapping all the hacker needs to do is convince the telecom provider’s customer service to transfer the target’s phone number to their device. Once this is done, their work is done.

According to West:

“You’re sitting in your home, your phone is in front of you, and you suddenly become aware there is no service because the bad guy has taken control of your phone number.”

Truglia was arrested on November 14, by the Santa Clara REACT task force which West is part of. $300,000 was recovered from him during the arrest. Truglia is now in custody and at the Manhattan Detention Complex, awaiting extradition to Santa Clara.