Cybercriminal accused of stealing cryptocurrency released to live with parents – Boston …

By Stella Lorence
BU News Service

BOSTON — A cybercriminal accused of hacking into the accounts of 10 victims to steal over $550,000 of cryptocurrency has been released from custody and into the care of his parents after a hearing Monday in U.S. District Court.

Declan Harrington, 20, of Rockport was arrested this month along with co-defendant Eric Meiggs, 21, of Brockton and charged with computer fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Harrington and Meiggs targeted victims “who likely had significant amounts of cryptocurrency, for example, executives of cryptocurrency companies,” according to the indictment.

Harrington and Meiggs used a cybercrime called “SIM switching” to reassign the number associated with the victim’s subscriber identity module (SIM) card to the SIM card in a phone controlled by Harrington, court records said.

Once Harrington and Meiggs had SIM switched the victim’s phone, they posed as the victim online to request…