British Twitter hacker Joseph James O’Connor has been sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $800,000 in criminal proceeds. He confessed to multiple crimes, including his involvement in a large-scale bitcoin fraud on Twitter in 2020. The charges against him include SIM-swapping to steal cryptocurrency, breaking into an actress’ Snapchat account, attempted extortion, stalking, swatting, and making bomb threats. O’Connor gained unauthorized access to Twitter accounts, including those of prominent figures like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, and used them to promote a bitcoin doubling scam. He is also accused of stealing valuable Twitter usernames and gaining control of social media accounts through SIM swapping. One victim was a minor whom O’Connor threatened with rape and murder. He was arrested in Spain in 2021 and extradited to the US. O’Connor claimed not to have known his actions were illegal. He has been convicted on 10 counts and sentenced to five years in prison.
