Three individuals were accused of taking part in an international cyber crime ring,which tried to steal over $15 million by hacking into American customer accounts at fourteen financial institutions as well as the Department of Defenses payroll service. These people have been indicted by the United States.
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Two Ukrainians, Oleksiy Sharapka, 33, and Leonid Yanovitsky, 39, and a US citizen, Richard Gundersen, 47, were indicted by the United States on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit access device fraud and identity theft, and aggravated identity theft. Initially there were eight people charged, but one of them was cleared of charged and the other four either pleaded guilty of still face them.
US Attorney explained that the gang hacked into accounts hold by the customers of various financial institutions, including Citibank, PayPal, E*Trade, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Nordstrom Bank, USAA, and many more leading services. The list even includes the Defense Departments finance and accounting service.
The US court is going to hear how the trio gained unauthorized access to networks and diverted customer funds to bank accounts and pre-paid debit cards. Apparently, they employedcashers to make ATM withdrawals and fake purchases in several US states. After this, the members of the gang used stolen identities to file false tax returns and claimed for refunds with the Internal Revenue Service.
The scam ran for more than a year from 2012, when Sharapka was deported after serving over seven years in the US prison, to the middle of 2013. According to prosecutors,Sharapka ran the conspiracy with help from Yanovitsky, while Gundersen helped them move fraud proceeds. Each hacker faces up to 20 years of jail time on the wire fraud conspiracy count only.
While the Ukrainian defendants havent been captured yet, the US hacker was expected to answer the charge in court later. In the meantime, charges against another defendant, Ilya Ostapyuk, were dismissed a few months ago, according to court records. As for the other 4 defendants, they either pleaded guilty or still face charges.
suffragette_arrest_london_1914.jpg
Two Ukrainians, Oleksiy Sharapka, 33, and Leonid Yanovitsky, 39, and a US citizen, Richard Gundersen, 47, were indicted by the United States on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit access device fraud and identity theft, and aggravated identity theft. Initially there were eight people charged, but one of them was cleared of charged and the other four either pleaded guilty of still face them.
US Attorney explained that the gang hacked into accounts hold by the customers of various financial institutions, including Citibank, PayPal, E*Trade, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Nordstrom Bank, USAA, and many more leading services. The list even includes the Defense Departments finance and accounting service.
The US court is going to hear how the trio gained unauthorized access to networks and diverted customer funds to bank accounts and pre-paid debit cards. Apparently, they employedcashers to make ATM withdrawals and fake purchases in several US states. After this, the members of the gang used stolen identities to file false tax returns and claimed for refunds with the Internal Revenue Service.
The scam ran for more than a year from 2012, when Sharapka was deported after serving over seven years in the US prison, to the middle of 2013. According to prosecutors,Sharapka ran the conspiracy with help from Yanovitsky, while Gundersen helped them move fraud proceeds. Each hacker faces up to 20 years of jail time on the wire fraud conspiracy count only.
While the Ukrainian defendants havent been captured yet, the US hacker was expected to answer the charge in court later. In the meantime, charges against another defendant, Ilya Ostapyuk, were dismissed a few months ago, according to court records. As for the other 4 defendants, they either pleaded guilty or still face charges.