lliot Gunton has received a 42-month prison sentence for taking part in the phishing scam that stole from more than 500 Coinbase accounts between 2018 and 2019.
At the young age of 17-18 years, Gunton had already shown maturity through his technical knowledge used to create the plan.
Using fake websites to look like the Coinbase login page, Gunton captured usernames and password information that enabled him to drain over $900k from victims.
The Elaborate Phishing Scheme
The court documents provide more information on how Gunton carried out his phishing attack. He designed counterfeit Coinbase login sites and connected them with users through internet sources. If victims went to the dummy sites and entered their usernames and passwords, rather than connecting with a legitimate Coinbase site, the fake pages simply stole those credentials.
This gave Gunton direct access to all the accounts. He moved whatever coins he had to his digital wallets from there. The judge preceding the case called it a "highly sophisticated offending that involved significant planning and technical expertise."
A History of Hacking Endeavors
Gunton was previously given a two-year prison sentence in 2018 after being arrested for his involvement in separate hacking schemes. He was serving time for hacking and trying to sell the stolen personal data from thousands of TalkTalk customers. He escaped jail by completing a rehabilitation order.
He had also been told to pay back more than £400,000 for attacking the accounts of several celebrities on Instagram. The individual - despite being just 18 years old- has repeatedly engaged in criminal acts of hacking, targeting not only individuals but also businesses.
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