Richard Yuan Li, 21, of Hercules, California, must also pay restitution of $61,117,50 and pay a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.
A SIM swap scam is a cellular phone account takeover fraud that results in the routing of a victim’s incoming calls and text messages to a different phone. Once a perpetrator is able to swap the SIM card, it is likely he is able to obtain access to a victim’s various personal accounts, including email accounts, bank accounts, and cryptocurrency accounts, as well as any other accounts that use two-factor authentication.
Li took possession of the Apple iPhone 8 and then arranged for victims’ telephone numbers to be swapped to SIM cards contained in cellular phones in their possession, including the Apple iPhone 8. Between July 2018 and December 2018, Li participated in unauthorized SIM swaps with his co-conspirators that targeted at least 40 phone numbers.
On November 10, 2018, the physician victim’s telephone number was swapped to the Apple iPhone 8, that Li kept in his dorm room at a university in California. The SIM swap caused the transmission of a series of writings, signs, signals, and sounds that traveled in interstate commerce, including between the States of Florida, Louisiana, and California.
Thereafter, Li gained access to the physician victim’s email accounts and cryptocurrency accounts. Thereafter, one or more members of the conspiracy called the victim and threatened to release contents of his email account unless the victim paid a 100 Bitcoin ransom.
Ultimately, they were able to steal approximately $57,117.50 worth of cryptocurrency before the physician victim was able to regain control of his accounts.
Li’s participation in a SIM Swap of another individual on December 4, 2018, caused that victim to lose approximately $4,000. In total, between July 19, 2018, and December 6, 2018, LI participated in unauthorized SIM swaps that targeted at least 40 victims.
In March 2019, Li sold his Apple iPhone 8 to a friend, E.W; law enforcement authorities executed a search warrant on LI’s dorm room in the San Diego, California area on about June 14, 2019.