Category Archives: Anton Bogdanov

Russian scammer ‘Kusok,’ who stole $1.5 million via tax fraud, sentenced to 5 years

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A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a Russian man to five years in prison for his role in a scheme to use malicious software to steal the equivalent of $1.5 million in tax returns meant for American taxpayers.  Anton Bogdanov, 35, worked as part of a small crew that used vulnerabilities in accounting software to redirect tax refunds into their own accounts. By logging into the software, Bogdanov and his associates would access customer information and change the recipient information, directing money from the Internal Revenue Service to debit cards under their control, according to an indictment.  Bogdanov, who was better known by the alias “Kusok,” lived in Russia during the crime spree, and would take a cut of the stolen money. He was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand in November 2018 while waiting to board a flight to Russia, becoming one of a number of accused cybercriminals whom U.S. […]

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Russian hacker who allegedly exploited accounting software to steal $1.5 million to plead guilty

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A Russian man accused of stealing $1.5 million as part of a scam that relied on using fraudulent tax returns to intercept cash meant for Americans is preparing to plead guilty. U.S. prosecutors charged Anton Bogdanov, known online as “Kusok,” with computer intrusion, aggravated identity theft and related charges for alleged activity between June 2014 and November 2016. Bogdanov and a team of associates used information purloined from hacked computers at American tax firms to change clients’ personal information, according to an indictment made public in April. By leveraging a security flaw in a remote access program used by accountants, Bogdanov and his crew allegedly changed client data so legitimate tax refunds would be delivered to the thieves in th form of debit cards. Bogdanov was arrested while on vacation in Thailand in November 2017 and extradited to the U.S. in March. Now, his attorney said in a Dec. 15 […]

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Russian charged with stealing $1.5 million in hacks on U.S. tax preparers

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U.S. authorities have charged a Russian citizen in a scam that netted $1.5 million through bogus tax returns between June 2014 and November 2016, the Department of Justice announced Monday. Anton Bogdanov — who went by “Kusok,” according to court documents — is accused of computer intrusion, aggravated identity theft and other wrongdoing as part of his alleged role in a plot to combine hacking with traditional fraud techniques to steal money from the U.S. government. Bogdanov and others leveraged access to hacked computers at private U.S. tax preparation firms to steal individuals’ personal information, exploiting a vulnerability in an unnamed remote access program used by accountants to log in from home and while traveling, according to the indictment. They allegedly would use that access to change the information on victims’ tax returns, and redirect their refunds to debit cards under the thieves’ control, according to the Justice Department. Those debit cards […]

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