A UK hacker behind a Coinbase login scam that used dummy websites and sob stories to steal more than $900,000 worth of crypto has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.
As reported by the Norwich Evening News, 24-year-old Elliott Gunton was jailed at Norwich Crown Court for his part in a hacking plot that involved mimicking the website of crypto exchange Coinbase to fraudulently obtain user login details.
The group would also call various telecom companies and use ‘sob stories’ to divert phone calls and access private account details.
The scam took place in 2018 and 2019, but by then Gunton was already a seasoned hacker. When he was just 16, he hacked the UK phone company TalkTalk and sold stolen customer data in exchange for crypto.
Also in 2019, he was ordered to pay back £407,359 ($524,000) and received a three-and-a-half-year community order after he hacked a high-profile Instagram account.
In today’s sentencing, Judge Alice Robinson noted that Gunton claimed to have gotten a “thrill from hacking.” She decided however that he ultimately wanted to steal money.
Gunton’s legal defense, Matthew McNiff, said that he was an obsessive loner at the time who had “shut himself away drowning in computer use.” He said that Gunton is trying to address his behavior and has started a furniture business.