(Reuters) – A Scottish man accused of being a member of the “Scattered Spider” hacking group was extradited to the United States from Spain on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported, citing a U.S. Justice Department official.
Tyler Buchanan has been charged with offenses including wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and was detained in California after a court appearance, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
The U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday evening. A lawyer for Buchanan could not be identified.
U.S. prosecutors announced criminal charges last year against Buchanan and four other alleged members of Scattered Spider, a loose-knit community of hackers suspected of breaking into dozens of U.S. companies to steal confidential information and cryptocurrency.
The group has been blamed for unusually aggressive cybercrime sprees, targeting major multinational companies as well as individual cryptocurrency investors.
Buchanan was arrested in June 2024 at an airport in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, as he attempted to board a flight to Naples, Spanish authorities said at the time.
U.S. prosecutors have alleged that Buchanan and the other defendants conducted phishing attacks by sending bogus but real-looking mass text messages to employees’ mobile phones warning that their accounts would be deactivated unless they clicked on a link that would surreptitiously grant system access to the hackers.
Scattered Spider drew notoriety in September 2023 when members broke into and locked up the networks of casino operators Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International, and demanded hefty ransoms. Caesars paid about $15 million to restore its network.
It is unclear whether the five defendants were connected to the Scattered Spider’s casino hacking.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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