US authorities have arrested the man responsible for the fake SEC Bitcoin ETF approval tweet.

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested a man who posted a fake tweet earlier this year claiming that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Authorities have charged 25-year-old Eric Council with conspiracy to commit identity theft and conspiracy to commit instrument fraud, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

FBI Arrests Man Behind Fake SEC Tweet

As the crypto community eagerly awaited the SEC's approval of the first US spot Bitcoin ETF on January 9, the council seized the agency's X account and issued a false announcement that the products had been approved for trading.

The news sent bitcoin (BTC) prices soaring from $1,000 to $47,800 within minutes. However, after the SEC deleted the tweet, the asset quickly lost $2,000 and fell to $45,400, suggesting that hackers had breached the X account and made the unauthorized post.

The authorities found that the Council and its affiliates had exchanged the SEC account with a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) while being investigated by several US agencies.

SIM swapping combines social engineering techniques and involves transferring a phone number from a victim's SIM card to another SIM card controlled by cybercriminals. This allows hackers to exploit weaknesses in security processes such as two-factor authentication and gain access to victims' credentials and personal information.

How did Congress attack the SEC?

The U.S. Attorney's Office's Grievance Council alleges that the SEC's X account user used a stolen identity to obtain their phone number. Council, who also goes by the online pseudonyms Ronin, Easymunny and AGiantSchnauzer, allegedly obtained the SEC employee's personally identifiable information (PII) along with the conspirators.

Defendant then used the PII to create a false ID, which he used to make a SIM exchange at a cell phone provider's store in Huntsville, Alabama. Council then purchased a new iPhone and used the new SIM card and mobile device to access the SEC's X identification codes.

After posting the fake tweet, the council received a BTC payment from the conspirators for a job well done and eventually the iPhone was returned in cash.

The council was especially confused after the incident and did internet searches to find out how “I was being investigated by the FBI”. He is expected to be arraigned Thursday in North Alabama District Court.