US prosecutors on Wednesday unsealed criminal charges against five alleged members of the Scattered Spiders, a loose-knit community of hackers suspected of breaking into dozens of US companies to steal confidential information and cryptocurrency.
Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, said the defendants carried out phishing attacks by sending fake but genuine-looking mass text messages to employees’ mobile phones, warning that their accounts would be deactivated.
The hackers, who were in their teens or 20s at the time, allegedly directed the link to employees to enter log-in information, allowing the hackers to steal from their employers and millions of dollars of cryptocurrency from individuals’ accounts. Became capable of.
The victims reportedly included at least 12 companies in the gaming, outsourcing, telecommunications and cryptocurrency sectors, as well as hundreds of thousands of individuals.
Estrada’s office confirmed that the case was related to the Scattered Spider. None of the victims were identified by name.
Security experts and officials have said that the Scattered Spiders are composed of small groups of people, including youth, who collaborate periodically on specific jobs.
The group has been blamed for unusually aggressive cybercrime, targeting major multinationals as well as individual cryptocurrency investors.
Industry insiders told Reuters last year that some experts had previously complained about the apparent inability of law enforcement to take action despite the identities of some suspects, including many living in Western countries, being known.
That may change now.
“The days of easy money and no consequences are over,” said Alison Nixon, chief research officer at cybersecurity company Unit 221B. “Defenders and law enforcement are now aggressively responding to this wave of cybercrime. Young people who are caught up in the online crime culture need to get out before they become the next target.
The defendants are Tyler Buchanan, 22, of Scotland; Ahmed Elbadawi, 23, of College Station, Texas; Joel Evans, 25, of Jacksonville, North Carolina; Evans Osibo, 20, of Dallas; and Noah Urban, 20, of Palm Coast, Florida.
Each was charged with two counts of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, and Buchanan was also charged with wire fraud.
Investigators traced Buchanan through domain registration records for phishing websites, which was registered under an account whose username included the name of late actor Bob Saget.
Authorities said the suspects’ illegal activity spans between September 2021 and April 2023.
scattered spider gained particular notoriety In September 2023, members of its community hacked into the networks of casino operators Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International and demanded a huge ransom payment. Caesars paid approximately $15 million to restore its network.
It was unclear whether these five defendants were connected to the Scattered Spiders casino hacking.
The Justice Department declined to comment on specific victims. Caesars did not immediately respond to requests for comment. MGM said the defendants do not appear to be related to the cyberattack against its network.
Evans was arrested in North Carolina on Tuesday. Urban has pleaded not guilty to 14 fraud and conspiracy charges in a separate case in Florida.
Buchanan was arrested in June at an airport in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, as he was attempting to fly to Naples, Spanish authorities said at the time. He is awaiting extradition from Spain, a Justice Department spokesman said.
A public defender representing Urban did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lawyers for the other defendants could not immediately be identified.
