A British man, Joseph James O’Connor, has pleaded guilty to hijacking Twitter accounts of celebrities, including US President Joe Biden and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. O’Connor was also guilty of stealing $794,000 in cryptocurrency. The man played a significant role in more than 130 Twitter accounts hack in July 2020, including Apple and Uber. O’Connor was a member of a hacking group that asked the followers to send them bitcoin while promising to double the money. O’Connor was using aliases and hidden accounts to avoid getting caught. He is scheduled to be sentenced on 23 June.

Twitter hack of celebrities and other important people

Joseph James O’Connor, a 23-year-old man from the UK, played a significant role in hacking over 130 Twitter accounts in July 2020. These accounts belonged to celebrities, politicians, and business entrepreneurs, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Apple, Uber and Kanye West. O’Connor was a part of a hacking group that compromised these accounts, and then they asked followers to send them bitcoin in return for a promise to double their money.

O’Connor’s arrest and the allegations against him

O’Connor got arrested almost two years ago in Spain, and he was recently extradition to New York to face the charges against him. O’Connor’s activities were malicious, and he tried to stay anonymous by using a computer to hide his identity. He went by the online name of “PlugwalkJoe,” and he was charged with multiple counts related to computer intrusion, extortion, stalking, wire fraud and money laundering. The most severe of these charges carry a jail sentence of up to 20 years.

The impact of O’Connor’s criminal activities

O’Connor’s criminal activities were malicious and caused substantial emotional harm to his victims. His conduct was intimidating, harassing and threatening. His hacking group used a technique known as “sim card swaps” to break into social media accounts of two media stars and threatened to release their private information. Furthermore, O’Connor and his group allegedly used the same technique to steal $794,000 of virtual currency from a New York cryptocurrency company.