The fraudster bribed the employees of the mobile operator for installing malware on its networks.
A Pakistani citizen who bribed AT&T employees to install malware on the company's internal networks received 12 years in prison for illegally unlocking more than 1.9 million phones, causing AT&T $ 201 million in damage.
According to the US Department of Justice, in the mid-2010s, 35-year-old Muhammad Fahd gave AT&T employees (now fired) a bribe of $ 1 million.
The illegal activity began in the summer of 2012 when Fahd contacted AT&T call center operators in Botell, Washington, USA. Using Facebook as his primary means of communication, the man promised them a large sum if they agreed to unlock AT&T phones so they could be sold and used outside of the company's network.
To receive a bribe, employees had to set up shell companies and open business bank accounts with them. Fahd compensated for the bribe by selling phone unlocking services through the now defunct SwiftUnlocks.com website.
However, the fraudulent scheme only worked for a few months, until April 2013, when AT&T introduced new smartphone unlocking procedures and the bribed call center employees either quit or were fired.
Among other things, Fahd hired a specialist to create malware and bribed another employee to install malware on AT&T call center systems in Botella.
The first version of the malware was a basic keylogger for collecting information on networks, including employee credentials. The second version was more complex and was deployed in the later stages of the attacks. The malware played the role of a remote access tool and provided an attacker with easy access to internal AT&T applications.
The mobile operator became suspicious when an unusually high number of phone unlocking operations were discovered at a call center in Botella. The investigation showed that in total, the participants in the fraudulent scheme illegally unlocked 1,900,033 phones.
AT&T has also filed a complaint with the FBI against Fahd Ghulam's accomplice Jivani. Both men were charged in 2017. Fahd was arrested in Hong Kong in 2018, extradited to the United States in August 2019, and pleaded guilty in September 2020.
A Pakistani citizen who bribed AT&T employees to install malware on the company's internal networks received 12 years in prison for illegally unlocking more than 1.9 million phones, causing AT&T $ 201 million in damage.
According to the US Department of Justice, in the mid-2010s, 35-year-old Muhammad Fahd gave AT&T employees (now fired) a bribe of $ 1 million.
The illegal activity began in the summer of 2012 when Fahd contacted AT&T call center operators in Botell, Washington, USA. Using Facebook as his primary means of communication, the man promised them a large sum if they agreed to unlock AT&T phones so they could be sold and used outside of the company's network.
To receive a bribe, employees had to set up shell companies and open business bank accounts with them. Fahd compensated for the bribe by selling phone unlocking services through the now defunct SwiftUnlocks.com website.
However, the fraudulent scheme only worked for a few months, until April 2013, when AT&T introduced new smartphone unlocking procedures and the bribed call center employees either quit or were fired.
Among other things, Fahd hired a specialist to create malware and bribed another employee to install malware on AT&T call center systems in Botella.
The first version of the malware was a basic keylogger for collecting information on networks, including employee credentials. The second version was more complex and was deployed in the later stages of the attacks. The malware played the role of a remote access tool and provided an attacker with easy access to internal AT&T applications.
The mobile operator became suspicious when an unusually high number of phone unlocking operations were discovered at a call center in Botella. The investigation showed that in total, the participants in the fraudulent scheme illegally unlocked 1,900,033 phones.
AT&T has also filed a complaint with the FBI against Fahd Ghulam's accomplice Jivani. Both men were charged in 2017. Fahd was arrested in Hong Kong in 2018, extradited to the United States in August 2019, and pleaded guilty in September 2020.
