The United States and Europe have separately announced major takedowns of cybercrime networks that have defrauded billions of people.
The US arrested Chinese citizen YunHe Wang and confiscated assets including a Ferrari, luxury watches and 21 properties.
While Europol, the European crime agency, made four arrests but said eight fugitives were on the run. They will be added to Europe’s “most wanted” list.
Both the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and Europol claimed their operation was the world’s largest “botnet” takedown.
Cyber criminals use so-called botnets to take control of people’s computers and install malware.
This software can then be used to collect data from a computer, send spam, or even delete a person’s data without the owner’s knowledge.
DoJ said Mr. Wang is accused of using a botnet to hack into more than 19 million devices in nearly 200 countries.
“Wang created malware that compromised millions of residential computers around the world and then sold access to the infected computers to criminals,” said Nicole Argentieri, deputy assistant attorney general. network”.
She said criminals used this access to hide their identities and “commit a series of crimes anonymously”. These include fraud, child exploitation and harassment – and even bomb threats.
It is also estimated that more than 500,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims were submitted from computers under his control, resulting in losses of more than $5.9 billion.
The DOJ accused Mr. Wang of using the proceeds to buy $60 million worth of luxury assets and said it confiscated a Ferrari, a Rolls-Royce, two BMWs and several watches — as well as bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.
He also bought real estate in the US, St Kitts and Nevis, China, Singapore, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
Law enforcement agencies in Singapore and Thailand, as well as tech giant Microsoft, are among the organizations assisting in the investigation.
Mr. Wang was charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud, aggravated computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
If convicted on all charges, he faces a maximum penalty of 65 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Europol said it has arrested the leaders of several cybercrime networks using botnets.
It has made arrests in Armenia and Ukraine, and taken down servers around the world, including in the UK, US and Germany.
More than 2,000 websites are now under the control of European law enforcement agencies.
Europol said one of the main suspects made off with more than 69 million euros (£58 million) in cryptocurrency through so-called ransomware – installing software that makes it impossible for a person to access their computer unless they they pay the fee.
In addition, eight fugitives currently on the run and wanted in Germany in connection with cybercrime will be added to Europe’s most wanted list.
Malware gets onto people’s devices mainly through phishing attempts – such as the type of emails people are advised not to click on – and compromised websites.
Europol said the bust – dubbed Operation Endgame – is ongoing and it has plans for future busts.
