A Scottish man has admitted to plotting to hack into the computer systems of at least a dozen companies to steal more than US$8 million (£5.9m) in virtual currency.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) accused Tyler Buchanan, of Dundee, of being involved in a ring that used text message phishing attacks to trick employees into giving away their login credentials, enabling access to computer systems.
Buchanan has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
US officials said that the 24-year-old and his co-conspirators sent hundreds of messages to company employees, posing as the companies or their contracted suppliers.
In his plea agreement, Buchanan admitted that between September 2021 and April 2023, the group planned to scam telecommunications companies, IT suppliers, cloud communications providers, virtual currency firms and individuals.
A device seized at Buchanan’s home in Scotland showed that he possessed the names and addresses of multiple victims, as well as a text file containing cryptocurrency seed phrases and login credentials for one victim’s account.
“The conspirators created a phishing kit that captured login credentials entered into the fraudulent phishing websites by a victim company’s employees,” the DOJ said in a statement.
“The stolen credentials were then transmitted to an online Telegram channel administered by Buchanan and another co-conspirator.”
Buchanan has been in federal custody in the US for a year.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on 21 August and faces a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison.
Three other defendants, all from the United States, are still facing criminal charges, according to the DOJ.
Another co-conspirator, Noah Michael Urban, pleaded guilty in April 2025 to three fraud-related charges and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.
Urban was also ordered to pay $13 million (£9.6 million) in restitution.
The DOJ said Police Scotland was one of several agencies providing the FBI with assistance as they carried out the investigation.
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