FBI today announced that an international group of hackers that was busted this week stole $70 million from the bank accounts of small companies, municipalities, churches and other victims in the U.S. The FBI statement added that ninety-two people have been charged and 39 arrested in the U.S. for their involvement in the high-tech crime. The FBI worked in close cooperation with in the U.K., where 20 were arrested; Ukraine, where five were detained, and the Netherlands to break the international computer-crime ring.

“This was a major theft ring,” said FBI Assistant Director Gordon Snow, of the bureau’s cyber division, in a statement. “Global criminal activity on this scale is a threat to our financial infrastructure, and it can only be effectively countered through the kind of international cooperation we have seen in this case.”

Explaining the modus operandi of the group, the FBI noted that hackers used malware contained in seemingly benign e-mails to the victims to carry out their activities. When the victims opened the malware, it recorded keystrokes, including account numbers, passwords and other security codes as the victims access their bank accounts using the internet.

Once the hackers get the necessary information, they use them to make unauthorized transfers to accounts controlled by other conspirators. The funds were transferred to the accounts that were set up by a “money mule organization”. The organization recruited people who came to the U.S. on student visas and these people were asked by the organization to open accounts under false names, said the FBI. The case began last year in May when a victim approached FBI in Omaha, Nebraska.

 

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