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Joseph James O’Connor, better known as “PlugwalkJoe,” has admitted to “his role in cyberstalking and several computer hacking schemes, including the hacking of Twitter in July 2020,” according to the US Department of Justice (DoJ).On April 26, the 23-year-old suspect was extradited from Spain after a Spanish national court authorized a DoJ request for the transfer of O’Connor to stand trial on 14 US criminal charges in February.
O’Connor and his associates used 130 Twitter identities, including those of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk, to conduct a digital currency fraud that paid them $120,000 in a couple of hours.
The attack was made feasible by employing social engineering tactics to get illegal use of Twitter tools, which were then used to seize control of accounts and, in some cases, sell access to other attackers. O’Connor reportedly paid $10,000 for unlawful access to one Twitter account.
Another Participants
O’Connor is one of four persons charged in connection with the Twitter breach. Nima Faseli and Graham Ivan Clark were apprehended in the same month, while O’Connor was apprehended by Spanish authorities a year later in July 2021.
Mason Sheppard, another contributor of the gang, was not detained, but his case is still ongoing. Clark was sentenced to three years in prison after confessing to 30 criminal offenses in March 2021.
Aside from the Twitter event, the suspect is accused of breaking into user accounts. Internet stalking of a juvenile victim using TikTok and Snapchat. Hacks included the planning of SIM-card substitution assaults against two unknown victims in order to acquire unauthorized access to their Snapchat and TikTok accounts.
O’Connor and his associates are also suspected of stealing $784,000 in cryptocurrencies from a New York-based cryptocurrency firm in 2019 by employing SIM-swapping tactics. The Ministry of Justice claims that
O’Connor, the man who had $784,000 taken from him, faces a total jail sentence of more than 70 years.