They stole millions of money, but grew hemp for the soul: the SBU neutralized a powerful hacker group (photo)

Ukraine is fighting cybercrime. Cyber-specialists of the Security Service neutralized a criminal organization in Kyiv that was stealing money from the bank accounts of Ukrainians. In the course of complex measures, 12 members of the group were detained. This was reported in the Security Service of Ukraine.

“It is documented that in just one of the episodes they stole more than 10 million hryvnias. from the deposit account of the capital notary. This money belonged to the Deposit Guarantee Fund of Individuals and was intended for payments to affected depositors of liquidated banks. According to the investigation, the attackers created malware that gave them access to the electronic accounts of depositors of one of the Kyiv banks. Accomplices who worked in various financial institutions in Kyiv helped search for potential “victims”. Because of them, the defendants received the personal data of residents of the capital who opened deposit accounts in the bank. The cybercriminals then sent a phishing message to the depositor’s email, disguised as a “banking service update” from the administration of the financial institution. Thus, the attackers received a login and password for managing accounts and transferred money from them to bank cards issued to front persons.- the message says.

In addition, during the investigation, the SBU officers discovered hidden drug laboratories for growing wholesale cannabis batches at the places of residence of the defendants. They sold finished “products” because of their own connections among drug dealers.

During searches in the offices and premises of the defendants, computer equipment, bank cards and SIM cards of mobile operators with evidence of illegal activity, and a wholesale batch of cannabis worth almost UAH 8 million were found.

At present, all detainees have been informed of suspicion. The perpetrators are in custody. They face up to 12 years in prison.

According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, the criminal organization operated on the territory of the city of Kyiv and the Dnepropetrovsk region.

Earlier, the NBU told how not to become a victim of scammers.