US Accused Russian Hacker of $100m Fraud

Evgeniy Bogachev, a Russian computer hacker, was accused a few days ago of organizing a worldwide conspiracy which targeted hundreds of thousands of PCs with malware, thus enabling him and his gang to steal over $100 million from US business and banks.

The group led by Bogachev infected machines with malware that captured passwords and account numbers. In result, they stole millions of dollars from victims. The members of the hacking group come from Russia, Ukraine and the UK. At the moment, the leader of the gang is not in custody, while charges of conspiracy, wire, bank and computer fraud, as well as money laundering were filed against Bogachev in Pittsburgh.

These hacking charges come weeks after the officials of the United States revealed cyber-espionage charges against 5 Chinese army hackers who are now arrested and accused of stealing trade secrets from various US companies. In the meantime, the indictment against the Russian hacker concerns only one victim, Haysite Reinforced Plastics of Erie, in northwestern Pennsylvania. The indictment states that the gang managed to steal about $824,000 from its bank accounts on one day three years ago. No further comments have been provided by the officials with the business, but it is known that the accounts were with Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank.

Another civil complaint provided other brief descriptions of victim entities. Their list even includes an unspecified American Indian tribe in Washington state, apart from a pest control company in North Carolina, an insurance firm, a company that runs assisted living centers in Pennsylvania, a police department in Massachusetts, a couple of Florida businesses, one restaurant and a local bank.

As for the losses the gang incurred, the Florida bank is known to have lost about $7 million via an unauthorized wire transfer, while the Massachusetts police department lost only $750 when one of its officers decided to pay a ransom demanded by the malware which infected its PCs.

A week ago, a federal judge in Pittsburgh granted a temporary restraining order against Evgeniy Bogachev and the other members of his group, demanding that they cease illegal activities – that order was recently unsealed along with the charges.