After a series of social media hacks and fraud attempts, a downtown L.A. man has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Amir Hossein Golshan, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, one count of wire fraud, and one count of accessing a computer to defraud and obtain value, between April 2019 and June 2023.

“[Golshan’s] crimes demonstrate an utter lack of respect for the law and basic human dignity,” the sentencing memo said. “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. Indeed, the defendant continued to commit these crimes, becoming more sophisticated and brazen in his actions, up until the FBI arrested him.”

Among the tactics used by Golshan was “SIM swapping,” which involves the takeover of a user’s Instagram account by illegally assigning the victim’s phone number to a new SIM card, and using that number to send himself a login verification code, and eventually control the account. The scam typically involves the hacker using trusting conversations with a user to gain access to the phone number. After taking over their accounts, he would repeat the process with friends of the Instagram account owners.

Through $300 to $500 payments, Golshan also received $82,000 from 500 victims in a Zelle-based scheme where he promised to provide "verified" Instagram badges. If payment transfers on the Zelle app remain relatively low, it will typically not raise red flags within.

Golshan pretended to be part of Apple Support in an additional Apple-related scam, later hacking iCloud accounts for NFTs and other digital currency, with transactions up to $389,000.

In addition to the 96 months in prison, Golshan was asked to pay $1,218,526 in restitution.

---

---