Two members of QQAAZZ, which laundered funds from cybercrime, plead guilty

Two individuals involved with laundering funds from U.S. victims of cybercrime pleaded guilty to their role in a transnational organization that relied in part on hacking to defraud victims out of millions of dollars, the Justice Department announced Friday. The defendants, Arturs Zaharevics and Aleksejs Trofimovics, are just two of 20 indiviuals charged by the U.S. government with involvement with QQAAZZ, a European-based crime group that provided cash and cryptocurrency laundering for cybercriminals. U.S. and European authorities launched a major crackdown on the group last fall, resulting in indictments against 14 members of the criminal organization. QQAAZZ  allegedly laundered or attempted to launder tens of millions of dollars’ worth of funds stolen from cybercrime victims across 16 countries. Trofimovics opened thirteen corporate bank accounts in Portugal under a shell company to help move money for cybercriminals. Zaharevics, who was extradited from the United Kingdom in April, also set up foreign […]

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Trickbot on the Ropes Part 2: The QQAAZZ Money Laundering Ring

While shutting down the technical aspects of malware is critical (see Trickbot on the Ropes Part 1), the real disincentive to the criminals is when you hit them hard in the money.  That was the objective of Europol’s Operation 2BaGoldMule case against … Continue reading Trickbot on the Ropes Part 2: The QQAAZZ Money Laundering Ring

US, European authorities carry out sweeping crackdown on prolific QQAAZZ cybercriminal group

U.S. and European law enforcement have embarked on a coordinated crackdown on an Eastern European cybercriminal group accused of trying to launder tens of millions of dollars stolen from victims. Fourteen people have been charged for allegedly laundering money for QQAAZZ, as the group is known, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday. Meanwhile, houses were raided across Europe, a number of arrests were made in Latvia and a cryptocurrency mining operation was seized in Bulgaria. It’s the most significant law enforcement offensive to date against QQAAZZ, whose members are allegedly from Bulgaria, Latvia, Georgia, Romania and elsewhere. The network has allegedly operated hundreds of bank accounts throughout the world to launder money stolen by criminal hackers, sometimes converting it to cryptocurrency. They stand accused of hawking their “bank drops service” on Russia-speaking cybercriminals forums. “The criminal gangs behind some of the world’s most harmful malware families are among those cybercriminal groups […]

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Maksim Boiko, an accused money launderer and part-time rapper, to plead not guilty

A Russian man caught carrying $20,000 in cash through the Miami airport earlier this year will plead not guilty to laundering money on behalf of a transnational cybercriminal organization, his attorney said Friday. An FBI complaint unsealed in March charges that Maksim Boiko, 29, was a “significant cybercriminal” who converted stolen money into cryptocurrency for a group called QQAAZZ. Boiko was taken into custody in Florida earlier this year, though he’s due to be arraigned via teleconference in the Western District of Pennsylvania soon, defense attorney Arkady Bukh told CyberScoop. “My client will plead not guilty,” he said. Boiko, known as “gangass” among other accused cybercriminals, was arrested in March at a Miami condominium on March 28 after entering the U.S. with his wife through the Miami airport in January. An FBI complaint unsealed the next day included pictures of Boiko driving a BMW with bundles of U.S. cash on […]

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FBI accuses Russian man of laundering money for a transnational cybercrime network

FBI agents have arrested a Russian citizen accused of laundering money for a cybercriminal gang that allegedly stole funds from a range of U.S. banks. A complaint unsealed Monday against Maksim Boiko, 29, alleges that he worked with a transnational organized crime group, called QQAAZZ, by converting stolen money into cryptocurrency. The Russian man is “a significant cybercriminal who launders money for other cybercriminals” by giving them access to criminally controlled ban accounts, an FBI affidavit says. U.S. authorities previously indicted five Latvian men for their alleged involvement in the QQAAZZ operation. According to prosecutors, hackers who breached victims’ bank accounts would contact QQAAZZ seeking an account to wire stolen funds as part of a kind of “global, complicit bank drops service.” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University and a specialist on court filings, first noticed the court records. […]

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