New York, Oct 2 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Twenty-five Russians have been charged in a banking fraud case in the US, the attorney’s office for the southern district of New York said Friday.
The Russians are believed to have been involved in a global cyber crime scheme that resulted in over $3 million being stolen from US bank accounts. Charges brought against them include conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering and passport fraud.
The Russians, all aged 20-26, are among a large group of people arrested by the FBI Thursday, many of whom had arrived in the US on student visas from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Kazakhstan.
Prosecutors said most of the detainees had been used by East European hackers as ‘money mules’ to open bank accounts later used to receive and transfer the stolen funds. They may face up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million.
The fraudulent scheme used the Zeus Trojan virus. When computer users clicked on a link or opened an attached file, malware was activated, which noted usernames and passwords that the victims typed on infected computers, the FBI said.
The FBI said the accused received 8-10 percent of funds stolen from bank accounts as payment for their illegal activities.
‘The mouse and the keyboard can be far more effective than the gun and the mask,’ US Attorney Preet Bharara told journalists.
