British National Admits Hacking Companies and Stealing Millions in Virtual Currency

A smishing and SIM-swapping cybercrime campaign (Sep 2021–Apr 2023) led by Tyler Robert Buchanan targeted U.S. telecom, cloud communications, and entertainment companies, using spoofed login portals and custom phishing kits to harvest credentials which were sent to a private Telegram channel; attackers then used fraudulent SIM transfers to bypass SMS-based 2FA and steal at least $8 million in cryptocurrency. Multiple suspects have pleaded guilty or remain under prosecution, and law enforcement recovered devices and continues to investigate the wider network.