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- Crypto scam alleges Eric Meiggs has admitted his involvement in laundering more than $530k worth of cryptocurrencies
- Eric was not alone and targetted only wealthy crypto holders to launder the funds
- The scammer has been charged with seven counts in an indictment
Crypto scam is soaring with mainstream adoption. According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), a man from Massachusetts admitted his involvement in a famous crypto scam on Wednesday. According to the court documents, the name of the man is Eric Meiggs, who is 23 years old and lives in Brockton. Eric has laundered more than $530K worth of cryptocurrency from victims globally using an illegal practice entitled SIM-swapping.
How did Eric perform such a crypto scam?
According to the court documents, it is found that Eric was not alone, indeed a co-conspirator was with him. Both the evil actors targetted victims with huge cryptocurrency holdings. Moreover, they considered their victims as Original Gangsters (OG) of a crypto social platform.
The well-worn tactics of Eric involved a crypto scam where they used to fool the cell phone carriers. After convincing the carriers to get swapping access with a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module). With the access to such modules, they used to hack into and take control of the victim’s online accounts. And from the accounts, they used to gather valuable information like social names, financial and cryptocurrency accounts.
Around the United States, it is known that ten identified users fall into the trap of hackers. However, with all those activities Eric and its co-ordinations laundered more than $530K worth of digital assets.
Eric is charged with seven indictments
Eric Meiggs’ crypto scam case was put forward on Wednesday with seven counts in an indictment. Hence, Meiggs has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud and abuse, and aggravated identity theft. However, he has been scheduled to be sentenced on September 15, 2021. Moreover, he faces a mandatory sentence of a couple of years in prison.
Furthermore, the FBI and the IRS-CI are investigating the crypto scam. In contrast, a federal district court judge will determine the sentence in September after considering the US sentencing guidelines and other permitted factors.
Following the value of the Bitcoin and altcoin market, the scammers are trying to exploit. In the current scenario, if someone is willing to invest in cryptocurrencies, they need to stay cautious and extra vigilant regarding where and how they will spend that.
