The US government has charged two Russians, Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev, for their alleged roles in hacking and bank fraud schemes that resulted in tens of millions of dollars stolen from victims worldwide, the Justice Department said in a press release on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2019) The US government has charged two Russians, Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev, for their alleged roles in hacking and bank fraud schemes that resulted in tens of millions of dollars stolen from victims worldwide, the Justice Department said in a press release on Thursday."The United States of America... today announced the unsealing of criminal charges in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Lincoln, Nebraska, against Maksim V. Yakubets, aka online moniker, 'aqua,' 32, of Moscow, Russia, related to two separate international computer hacking and bank fraud schemes spanning from May 2009 to the present," the release said. "A second individual, Igor Turashev, 38, from Yoshkar-Ola, Russia, was also indicted in Pittsburgh for his role related to the 'Bugat' malware conspiracy."
Yakubets and Turashev are facing a 10-count indictment in the state of Pennsylvania related to hacking and bank fraud charges, the release said. They allegedly deployed Bugat malware to steal personal and financial information from victims and used it to make unauthorized electronic funds transfers from their bank accounts, the release said.
The charged also allegedly targeted two banks, a school district and four businesses in Pennsylvania, stealing millions of dollars as recently as March 2019, the release said.
Yakubets is also charged in the state of Nebraska for conspiring to commit bank fraud in connection with the Zeus malware, the release said. He and multiple co-conspirators planned a massive scheme targeting 21 entities throughout the United States with the mission to steal about $220 million from their victims' bank accounts, the release said.
Earlier on Thursday, Justice Department officials said Russia was helpful "to a point" in the investigation and both men are believed to be in Russia.
