A 24-year-old British national has pleaded guilty to carrying out a large-scale cyberattack campaign that targeted major U.S. companies and resulted in the theft of at least $8 million in cryptocurrency.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Tyler Robert Buchanan, a Scottish national, admitted to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The attacks took place between September 2021 and April 2023 and affected organizations across telecommunications, cloud communications, and interactive entertainment sectors.
The threat group primarily relied on social engineering, using SMS phishing (smishing) to compromise employee credentials.
Stolen credentials were automatically transmitted to a private Telegram channel controlled by the attackers, enabling real-time data harvesting and coordination.
After gaining access, the attackers infiltrated corporate environments and extracted sensitive information.
The group then shifted focus from corporate espionage to financial theft by targeting personal crypto wallets.
To bypass security controls, the attackers used SIM swapping techniques to defeat SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA).
This technique allowed the group to bypass standard security protections and steal millions in digital assets.
In April 2023, law enforcement authorities raided Buchanan’s residence in Scotland.
Investigators recovered devices containing:
Buchanan has been held in federal custody since April 2025 and is scheduled for sentencing on August 21. He faces a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison.
The investigation, led by the FBI in coordination with international partners including Police Scotland, has identified multiple individuals involved in the operation.
Authorities continue to track the broader cybercriminal network behind the campaign, highlighting the growing threat of coordinated social engineering attacks combined with telecom fraud techniques.
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