Two More Charged with 2023 Sports Betting Customer Account Hacks

The United States Attorney’s Office has announced that two men have been arrested and charged in relation to a targeted hack which saw a criminal gang steal information and money from thousands of sports betting and daily fantasy sports accounts.

It’s alleged that they worked in conjunction with Joseph Garrison, the 18-year-old man arrested in November of last year. Austad of Farmington, Minnesota, and Stokes of Memphis, Tennessee, are believed to have attempted to sell user information online.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said of the case:

“As alleged, Nathan Austad and Kamerin Stokes were involved a scheme to hack into the accounts of tens of thousands of victims and then to sell access to those stolen accounts online. Our office is relentless in tracking down the perpetrators of cybercrime. Earlier this month, we announced an SDNY Whistleblower Pilot Program to encourage early and voluntary self-disclosure of criminal activity. To all cybercriminals: call us before we call you.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith said:

User Data Stolen and Sold

Austad, Joseph Garrison, and others launched a “credential stuffing attack” on the betting operator’s website. During the attack, they stole credentials, username and password pairs and the attempted to sell them on the darkweb. They also allegedly used the same credentials to access accounts held by the same users with other companies and providers.

Austad, Stokes, Garrison, and others stole approximately $600,000 from around 1,600 accounts.

Image credit: Santeri Viinamäki / CC BY-SA 4.0

Jenny Tang

An experienced iGaming commentator and analyst based in New York City - Jenny reports on regulation and gambling industry news and events.