SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio man and woman have pleaded guilty in a scheme that included swapping AT&T cell phone SIM cards and stealing at least $250,000 worth of cryptocurrency from customers.
Andrew Percy Trujillo, 22, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse as well as wire fraud, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Zena Elisa Dounson, 34, pleaded guilty to the same charge on Sept. 27.
Federal authorities said the pair were involved in SIM swapping so they could receive victims’ phone and text communications and other sensitive information.
Dounson worked at a local AT&T store and gave Trujillo access to victims’ accounts by adding him as an authorized user, authorities said.
Trujillo ported information on victims’ SIM cards to the SIM cards on his own devices, and he received the victims’ calls and texts instead, the release states.
By doing so, Trujillo and Dounson accessed the victims’ cryptocurrency accounts and transferred out at least $250,000 in cryptocurrency.
Authorities said they will be sentenced on Jan. 5 and face up to five years in prison.
The FBI is investigating the scheme, authorities said.
AT&T released the following statement to KSAT:
“We continue to work closely with law enforcement, our industry and consumers to help defeat this type of crime.”
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