Hackers Use Phone Numbers To Steal Bitcoin

Hackers are going old school, using just a telephone number to steal everything from money in bank accounts to bitcoin.

According to a report by Forbes, which told the story of Colombian Jered Kenna, hackers were able to fake his identity and transfer his mobile phone number from T-Mobile to another carrier that was linked to a Google voice account that the hacker had. From there, the hacker got the calls and messages from Kenna’s phone routed to the hacker’s phone and then reset the passwords for his email address by having SMS codes sent to the rerouted phone. The bad guy(s) were able to change the passwords on all his accounts, including two banks, two bitcoin services, Windows and PayPal. While hacks into his bank account are reversible, the theft of the bitcoin was not, which Kenna said in the report was millions of dollars’ worth of bitcoin.

“I was one of the first people to actually do anything in bitcoin, and I no longer have any bitcoin to speak of,” he said in the report. “I’ve got, like, 60 coins or something, which is nothing compared to — it’s a fraction.”

Forbes noted the hack of Kenna’s bitcoin is becoming more common as hackers target everything from normal people to hospitals in an effort to get a hold of bitcoin.