NORTH CAROLINA
A Ukrainian and three others allegedly operated a sophisticated online infrastructure that allowed hackers to receive and conceal stolen money, primarily from U.S. companies’ bank accounts and transfer it to countries outside the United States, officials said.
Viktor Chostak, 34, of Ukraine, along with three others, are charged in a 25-count indictment relating to the $10 million international money laundering operation, officials said.
The organization created and operated a sophisticated online infrastructure that allowed hackers to obtain and conceal stolen money, primarily from U.S. companies’ bank accounts, and transfer it to countries outside the U.S., officials said.
The indictment alleges conspiracy to commit money laundering, eleven counts of money laundering, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, conspiracy to transport stolen property, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, four counts of transporting stolen property and six counts of aggravated identity theft, officials said.
According to the indictment, beginning in September 2007, Chostak and three other conspirators were members of an international money laundering organization.
The organization created websites for fake companies, then sent spam emails advertising employment opportunities.
When an individual responded to the spam solicitations, the organization put the applicant through what appeared to be a legitimate hiring process, the indictment states.
The organization falsely represented that the individual’s job was to receive payments from businesses into their personal bank accounts, withdraw the money, then wire the funds to the company’s partners overseas
In reality, the individuals merely acted as money mules, processing hackers’ stolen proceeds and wiring them out of the country to other conspirators.
The organization allegedly laundered at least $10 million in stolen money from the United States overseas, officials said.
According to the indictment, Chostak recruited, hired and managed others who oversaw the money mule operations. Chostak also allegedly worked with computer programmers to meet the needs of the organization’s online infrastructure.