A Los Angeles man was sentenced to eight years in prison and was ordered to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution after he admitted to a yearslong string of digital crimes.
Amir Hossein Golshan, 25, of downtown Los Angeles pleaded guilty in July to one count each of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, wire fraud and accessing a computer to defraud and obtain value, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
For years, Golshan used “SIM swapping” — “fraudulently inducing a carrier to reassign a cell phone number from the legitimate subscriber’s SIM card to a SIM card controlled by another without the legitimate subscriber’s authorization,” as defined by the DOJ — to reset social media passwords and thus take over the account.
From “at least April 2019 to February 2023,” he targeted hundreds of people and their social media accounts, asking his victims’ friends and family for money and demanding a ransom payment for the victim to have their account returned. One such victim was an L.A.-based model and influencer who boasted 100,000 followers on social media.
In some cases, he’d sextort the female victims and coerce them into sending him explicit photos and images of themselves, as reported by Vice.
Golshan also defrauded people by offering non-existent services, such as getting an Instagram account verified, and taking their money knowing he would not uphold his end of the bargain.
“During Golshan’s SIM swapping and Zelle fraud schemes, Golshan fraudulently received approximately $82,000 in payments from approximately 500 victims, usually in increments of $300 to $500 per victim,” prosecutors said.
Golshan didn’t stop there, however. He also stole NFTs and cryptocurrency, prosecutors said.
In one instance, he pretended to be Apple Support to gain the access code for a victim’s iCloud account.
“Golshan then changed the email address on the victim’s iCloud account to an email address that he controlled,” prosecutors said. “Golshan then stole valuable digital property from the victim, including an NFT valued at approximately $319,000 and approximately $70,000 worth of cryptocurrency. Later that same day, defendant sold the stolen NFT for $130,000 in cryptocurrency on a NFT marketplace.”
Ultimately, Golshan stole about $740,000 in money and property, but U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II said the crimes went “beyond just money,” instead displaying “wanton cruelty” toward the victims.
That assessment was echoed by prosecutors, who wrote in a sentencing memorandum that the crimes indicate “an utter lack of respect for the law and basic human dignity.”
“He showed little remorse for his victims or being caught during his years of crime, believing that he could hide behind the anonymity of online screennames or VPNs, and that his victims – who were on the other side of the computer – would never find him,” they wrote. “Indeed, defendant continued to commit these crimes, becoming more sophisticated and brazen in his actions, up until the FBI arrested him.”
