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Remington Goy Ogletree was arrested last month after allegedly hacking two telcos and a financial institution.
A US teenager arrested by US authorities last month is suspected to be a member of the Scattered Spider hacking group.
Remington Goy Ogletree,19, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one of aggravated identity theft after he took part in a widespread phishing campaign to steal employee credentials from an unnamed US-based telco and financial institution and a European telco.
The FBI alleges that Ogletree, once he had gained access to the internal networks of his victims, stole data that was later sold on the darknet. He also allegedly used his access to his victims to steal cryptocurrency from other victims.
According to the FBI’s filing with the US District Court of New Jersey, Ogletree’s victims lost more than US$4 million.
Ogletree is alleged to have impersonated support staff, calling up employees and directing them to fake websites where he harvested their credentials.
“A review of screenshots of the phishing messages revealed statements intended to mislead the employees into providing their credentials, including fraudulent messages claiming their ‘employee benefits package [was] updated’ and ‘your employee schedule has been modified’,” the complaint said.
“Some of the phishing messages told employees that they had ‘an inquiry from HR’ or that their ‘VPN profile was updated’.”
Ogletree’s alleged hacking campaigns took place between October and November 2023.
This is the seventh arrest this year related to the Scattered Spider hacking group. Ahmed Hossam Eldin Elbadawy, Noah Michael Urban, Evans Onyeaka Osiebo, and Joel Martin Evans – all from the US – were arrested last month alongside a Brit, Tyler Robert Buchanan. Another suspected Scattered Spider member was arrested in the UK in July.
Scattered Spider was previously responsible for high-profile hacks targeting Caesars Palace and MGM Resorts in Las Vegas while operating as an affiliate of the ALPHV ransomware-as-a-service operation.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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