The US and Europe have independently disclosed significant takedowns of cybercrime networks that defrauded people out of billions of dollars.
The US has detained YunHe Wang, a Chinese national, and taken 21 homes, a Ferrari, and pricey watches.
Four of the fugitives have been captured by Europol, the crime bureau of the European Union, while the remaining eight remain at large. They’ll be put on the “most wanted” list in Europe.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) and Europol both declared that their respective efforts had disrupted the largest “botnet” in history.
Cybercriminals utilize “botnets” to take over victims’ computers and install malicious software.
Then, without the owner’s awareness, this program can be used to distribute spam, gather data from computers, or even erase personal information.
Bomb threats and fraud
According to the DoJ, Mr. Wang is charged with breaking into over 19 million devices in nearly 200 nations by means of a botnet.
“Wang created malware that compromised millions of residential computers around the world and then sold access to the infected computers to cybercriminals,” stated Nicole Argentieri, principal deputy assistant attorney general.
She claimed that criminals “anonymously commit a wide array of offenses” by using this access to hide their identities. These consist of bomb threats, child exploitation, fraud, and harassment.
