Amir Hossein Golshan, a 25-year-old resident of downtown Los Angeles, has been sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay over $1.2 million in restitution after confessing to a prolonged series of digital crimes. In July, Golshan pleaded guilty to charges including unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, wire fraud, and accessing a computer to defraud and obtain value, as revealed by the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday.
Golshan’s modus operandi involved “SIM swapping,” a technique where he fraudulently convinced a carrier to reassign a cell phone number from the legitimate subscriber’s SIM card to one controlled by him. This allowed him to reset social media passwords and take control of victims’ accounts. Over the period from at least April 2019 to February 2023, Golshan targeted hundreds of individuals, exploiting their compromised social media accounts to demand ransom payments and extort money from their friends and family. Among his victims was a Los Angeles-based model and influencer with a substantial social media following.
The extent of Golshan’s crimes included sextortion, coercing female victims into sending explicit photos and images. Additionally, he defrauded people by offering nonexistent services, such as promising to verify Instagram accounts, taking their money without fulfilling his commitments. Golshan’s schemes, which involved SIM swapping and Zelle fraud, resulted in approximately $82,000 in fraudulent payments from around 500 victims.
Golshan’s criminal activities extended to stealing NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and cryptocurrency. He posed as Apple Support in one instance to gain access to a victim’s iCloud account, subsequently changing the account’s email address to his own. Golshan then pilfered valuable digital assets, including an NFT valued at about $319,000 and approximately $70,000 worth of cryptocurrency. To conceal his tracks, he sold the stolen NFT for $130,000 in cryptocurrency on an NFT marketplace.
Despite the financial losses totaling approximately $740,000, U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II emphasized that Golshan’s crimes went beyond monetary concerns, demonstrating “wanton cruelty” toward the victims. Prosecutors echoed this sentiment, emphasizing in a sentencing memorandum that Golshan’s actions reflected “an utter lack of respect for the law and basic human dignity.” They noted his minimal remorse and continued criminal activities, indicating a belief in hiding behind online anonymity, until the FBI apprehended him.