British man accused of being part of a £9m cryptocurrency scam

A man is facing up to 47 years in prison in the US after being charged with involvement in a £9million cryptocurrency fraud.

Tyler Buchanan, 22, is accused of being part of a hacking group that carried out a sophisticated scam which accessed the personal financial information of thousands of people.

He and four others are alleged to have sent phishing text messages to victims’ mobile phones warning that their accounts would be deactivated.

The links in the SMS messages directed them to websites - which looked legitimate - requesting personal log-in information.

It is alleged the hackers used the data to access cryptocurrency accounts and steal £9million worth of virtual currency.

Buchanan, of Dundee, was arrested in Spain earlier this year and is in custody awaiting extradition to the US to face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

The charges were announced following an investigation involving the FBI, Police Scotland and The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Those targeted in the alleged fraud worked for various technology companies across the US.

United States Attorney Martin Estrada said: ‘We allege that this group of cybercriminals perpetrated a sophisticated scheme to steal intellectual property and proprietary information worth tens of millions of dollars and steal personal information belonging to hundreds of thousands of individuals.

‘As this case shows, phishing and hacking has become increasingly sophisticated and can result in enormous losses. If something about the text or email you received or website you’re viewing seems off, it probably is.’

Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said: ‘The defendants allegedly preyed on unsuspecting victims in this phishing scheme and used their personal information as a gateway to steal millions in their cryptocurrency accounts.

‘These types of fraudulent solicitations are ubiquitous and rob American victims of their hard-earned money with the click of a mouse.

‘I’m proud of our stellar cyber agents whose work led to the identification of the alleged schemers who are facing significant prison time if convicted.’

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The other men charged in relation to the alleged fraud are Ahmed Elbadawy, 23, of Texas, Noah Michael Urban, 20, of Florida, Evans Onyeaka Osiebo, 20, of Texas, and Joel Martin Evans, 25, of North Carolina.

According to court documents, from at least September 2021 to April 2023, the defendants conducted phishing attacks by sending text messages to mobile phones of numerous companies’ employees that purported to be from the victim company or a supplier.

The phishing text messages stated that the employees’ accounts were about to be deactivated and provided links to authentic looking websites to lure the recipient into providing confidential information, including account login credentials.

Some employees went to the phishing websites, entered their credentials, and sometimes authenticated their identities using a two-factor authentication request sent to their mobile phones.

If convicted, each defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, up to five years in federal prison for the conspiracy count, and a mandatory two-year consecutive prison sentence for aggravated identity theft.

Buchanan would face up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud count as well.