A Californian court has given a fraudster and sex pest an eight-year prison sentence after he plead guilty to a string of crimes that involved SIM swaps and taking control of his victim’s phones, social media and other online accounts. Amir Hossein Golshan committed an extraordinary litany of crimes between April 2019 to February 2023, leading the judge to condemn Golshan for “wanton cruelty” that forced his victims to live with “constant fear and worry”. The details of how he used messaging services like Instagram to harass women for his sexual titillation were captured in a chilling complaint submitted by the FBI and reported upon by Commsrisk earlier this year. The prosecutor’s press release stated that Golshan ultimately tricked and extorted victims into paying him a total of USD740,000. In addition to his prison sentence, Golshan has been ordered to pay USD1,218,526 in restitution.
Prosecutors argued that Golshan…
…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, defendant continued to commit these crimes, becoming more sophisticated and brazen in his actions, up until the FBI arrested him.
It is encouraging to see US law enforcement have become much more proactive at dealing with SIM swapping crooks and sleazebags like Golshan. In August, US prosecutors secured a three-year prison sentence for Anthony Francis Faulk for stealing cryptocurrency worth approximately USD20mn. This followed a five-year sentence given to notorious British SIM swapper Joseph O’Connor by a New York court in June after he had been extradited from Spain. But we should also pay attention to the ages of these three men when they were sentenced: Faulk was 26, O’Connor was 24, and Golshan was 25 years of age. All three had engaged in several years of crime before they were caught. Each man started down the road to hard crime either during or soon after their teenage years.
These crimes are not just caused by changes in technology and will not be addressed by simply changing technology. They also reflect the mentality of young men who have no moral compass and have learned basic methods of hiding their identities and manipulating other people through the phone calls they make and the messages they send. We need to help boys to understand that their online activities have consequences too, including the possibility of prison time if they will not curb their worst instincts. Strategies to counter juvenile cybercrime need to be applied across the whole of society, as recommended by the US Cyber Safety Review Board earlier this year. Boys will be boys everywhere. Each country needs to find ways to guide boys into becoming responsible men, and must be willing to punish those who will not. Otherwise there will be a lot more crimes of this nature worldwide.
