Teen Arrested for Allegedly Hacking into Vegas Casinos

A teenager has been arrested after allegedly hacking into multiple Las Vegas casinos.

“Between August 2023 and October 2023, multiple Las Vegas casino properties became the targets of sophisticated network intrusions,” the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed via press release on Friday, Sept. 19.

The police said the incidents “were attributed to an organized cyber threat-actor group known by several names to include, ‘Scattered Spider,’ ‘Octo Tempest,’ ‘UNC3944,’ and/or ‘0ktapus.’ ”

Following an investigation led by the FBI’s Las Vegas Cyber Task Force, “a teenage male” emerged “as a suspect in the case.” Then, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, he “surrendered himself” to authorities before being booked on multiple charges, including extortion.

According to KTLA and SFGATE, the targeted properties included Caesars and MGM Resorts, which reported $100 million dollars in losses as a result of the cyberattacks.

PEOPLE has contacted the Las Vegas Police Metropolitan Police Department, MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and the FBI Las Vegas for further comment.

The hacker allegedly pretended to be an MGM Grand employee that he found on LinkedIn by asking the company’s IT department to reset his password, SFGATE reported. According to Forbes, the individual was allegedly able to access internal systems in MGM in “in 10 minutes” after being granted a password reset.

The cyberattack led to hotel key cards and slot machines being disabled, bookings being blocked and employees being locked out of their emails, SFGATE reported.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing submitted on Oct. 5, 2023, MGM stated it had lost around $100 million during the “the cyber security issue in September.”

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Caesars also reported a cyber attack in a SEC filing submitted around the same, according to SFGATE. Per the report, the property said it took “steps to ensure that the stolen data is deleted by the unauthorized actor, although we cannot guarantee this result.” 

According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan PD, the suspect “surrendered himself to the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center, where he was booked” on multiple charges.

The teen’s charges include three counts of “Obtaining and Using Personal Identifying Information of Another Person to Harm or Impersonate Person;” one count of “Extortion;” one count of “Conspiracy to Commit Extortion” and one count of “Unlawful Acts Regarding Computers.”

“The Clark County District Attorney’s Office is seeking to transfer the juvenile to the criminal division, where he would face these charges as an adult,” the police said.