Chinese National Allegedly Running 'Likely World's Largest Ever' Cybercrime Botnet Arrested in Singapore, USD 29 Million in Cryptocurrency Seized
An international law enforcement team has arrested a Chinese national and disrupted a major botnet that officials said he ran for nearly a decade, amassing at least USD 99 million in profits by reselling access to criminals who used it for identity theft, child exploitation, and financial fraud, including pandemic relief scams.
Washington, May 30: An international law enforcement team has arrested a Chinese national and disrupted a major botnet that officials said he ran for nearly a decade, amassing at least USD 99 million in profits by reselling access to criminals who used it for identity theft, child exploitation, and financial fraud, including pandemic relief scams.
The US Department of Justice quoted FBI Director Christopher Wray as saying on Wednesday that the 슬롯사이트�911 S5슬롯사이트� botnet 슬롯사이트� a network of malware-infected computers in nearly 200 countries 슬롯사이트� was likely the world's largest. Justice said in a news release that Yunhe Wang, 35, was arrested May 24. Wang was arrested in Singapore, and search warrants were executed there and in Thailand, the FBI's deputy assistant director for cyber operations, Brett Leatherman, said in a LinkedIn post. Chinese Criminal Syndicates To Keep Hurting India via Loan App Scams, Says Cybersecurity Expert.
Authorities also seized USD 29 million in cryptocurrency, Leatherman said. Cybercriminals used Wang's network of zombie residential computers to steal 슬롯사이트œbillions of dollars from financial institutions, credit card issuers and accountholders, and federal lending programs since 2014", according to an indictment filed in Texas' eastern district.
The administrator, Wang, sold access to the 19 million Windows computers he hijacked 슬롯사이트� more than 613,000 in the United States 슬롯사이트� to criminals who 슬롯사이트œused that access to commit a staggering array of crimes that victimised children, threatened people's safety and defrauded financial institutions and federal lending programmes슬롯사이트�, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the takedown. Cybercrime in Gujarat: Chinese Man Makes Football Betting App, Dupes 1,200 People for Over Rs 1,400 Crore.
He said criminals who purchased access to the zombie network from Wang were responsible for more than USD 5.9 billion in estimated losses due to fraud against relief programs. Officials estimated 560,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims originated from compromised IP addresses. Wang allegedly managed the botnet through 150 dedicated servers, half of them leased from US-based online service providers.
The indictment says Wang used his illicit gains to purchase 21 properties in the United States, China, Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and St. Kitts and Nevis, where it said he obtained citizenship through investment. In its news release, the Justice Department thanked police and other authorities in Singapore and Thailand for their assistance.