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The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) announced Thursday that it has arrested a man and charged him over hijacking the Twitter (aka X) account of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), using the account to tweet prematurely in January that the agency had approved Bitcoin ETFs. That false statement immediately led to a spike in the price of Bitcoin.
Eric Council Jr. of Athens, Alabama was arrested Thursday and charged with the crime, with authorities alleging that the 25-year-old used a "SIM swapping" technique to take over a phone number and ultimately gain unauthorized access to the SEC's Twitter account. The price of Bitcoin shot up by more than $1,000 soon thereafter, but then plunged by $2,000 once the announcement was refuted.
"These SIM swapping schemes, where fraudsters trick service providers into giving them control of unsuspecting victims’ phones, can result in devastating financial losses to victims and leaks of sensitive personal and private information,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, in a statement. “Here, the conspirators allegedly used their illegal access to a phone to manipulate financial markets. Through indictments like this, we will hold accountable those who commit these serious crimes."
Editor's note: This story is breaking and will be updated with additional details.