Hacker made a profit by trading on manipulated stocks

Jun 26, 2016 00:50 GMT  ·  By

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on June 22 that it launched a civil lawsuit against a UK man who hacked into several brokerage accounts belonging to US and international investors.

The SEC accused Idris Dayo Mustapha, 30, a resident in the UK, of hacking at least nine brokerage accounts and initiating illegal transactions on their behalf.

After making these transactions, Mustapha immediately used his own account to make stock market operations against the same stocks that netted him a profit.

The SEC says Mustapha made at least $68,000 profits this way and caused losses to his victims of at least $289,000. Reuters also reported independently, citing court documents, that Mustapha initiated transactions of more than $5 million of little-known stocks.

Mustapha's hacking campaign took place in April and May of this year and targeted both US and international brokerage firms.

The SEC has charged Mustapha with securities fraud, filed a civil lawsuit to recover some of the losses, and has also asked and received a court order to freeze more than $100,000 in Mustapha’s assets. The court order also prohibits Mustapha from destroying evidence from his computer.

This is a much smaller case, compared to another securities fraud case from last fall, which also involved hacking and when an organized cyber-crime group hacked three business newswire services, stole upcoming press releases, and used the private information to make a profit on the stock market.