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Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) said
sports stars, musicians and their families had been targeted by
the scam in which criminals gain access to their victim's phones
or accounts.
This allowed them to steal money, bitcoin and personal
information, as well as hack their victims' social media
accounts to post content and messages, the NCA said.
The investigation, which involved the U.S. Secret Service and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), discovered a network
operating in Britain. The British police said eight suspects,
aged between 18 and 26, had been arrested in England and
Scotland.
"This network targeted a large number of victims in the U.S. and
regularly attacked those they believed would be lucrative
targets, such as famous sports stars and musicians," said Paul
Creffield, head of operations in the NCA's National Cyber Crime
Unit.
"As well as causing a lot of distress and disruption, we know
they stole large sums from their victims, from either their bank
accounts or bitcoin wallets."
SIM-swapping involves cyber crooks taking control of a victim's
phone number by essentially deactivating their SIM and switching
the allocated number to a SIM belonging to one of the criminal
gang.
The criminals then reset passwords on apps, giving them access
to their victims contacts, banking details, emails and social
media accounts.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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