Do you know how you can quickly steal billions of rubles in cash in Russia? And that no one would have anything for it? Do not know? So, it turns out that this is done very easily and naturally, and everyone leaves happy and rich. But let's see how exciting the process itself is.

Remember, on April 21, 2014, the Bank of Russia decided to revoke the banking license from OAO Bank Zapadny? The one that occupied the 142nd place in Russia in terms of assets had 367 thousand clients, and the volume of deposits reached 23 billion rubles. License revoked for significant inaccuracy of the bank's reporting and violations identified during the audit».

And everything seems to be quiet - the bank died, everyone fled, there is no more money. And then a bad question arises: But where is the money? After all, they, this money, were, and not a little, and then somehow magically disappeared. But according to the laws of physics, nothing on earth passes without a trace - somewhere it has gone away, but somewhere it has arrived. And, it seems, now it becomes clear how “quietly subsided” and how much. The amounts are off scale, and the documents are a real pulp fiction.

So, for example, have you ever seen a bank loan agreement with a private person in the amount of 701 million rubles? Moreover, a loan for such a lot of money (at the rate on the day of issue - this is 20 million US dollars) does not provide for any pledges, guarantees, confirmations, etc.. The bank just gives out 701 million without any guarantee of a return, and the client receives the money in cash and says “thank you”. Are you saying this doesn't happen? That's what I thought too, but here's the deal. Moreover, the prisoner just five months (!!!) before the license was revoked from Zapadny Bank:

Or maybe the happy recipient of millions “for nothing” did not receive them after all? Well, are there any banking rules and regulations? Alas, it turns out that there were no rules in Zapadny Bank just before the bankruptcy, but there was a great desire to dissolve millions of dollars in their own pockets, but as soon as possible. Here is a no less amazing document - an expense cash warrant No. 8593 dated October 11, 2013, according to which the lucky owner of a free loan, citizen Nikolai Viktorovich Karpenko, receives cash (!!!) at the bank's cash desk ... 638 million rubles:

Can you imagine how much 638 million rubles in cash weigh? If not, then I inform you that the weight of such an amount in five thousandth banknotes (!!!) is 130 kilograms. And a load of 1,276 bank packages of 100 banknotes each will have to be transported by a small truck. Not weak?

And then the most interesting thing happens. On April 21, 2014, the license was revoked from Zapadny Bank, and citizen Karpenko Nikolai Viktorovich immediately declares that he does not know anything about a loan of 701 million rubles and did not receive any money. And then a completely amazing document “Decree on the recognition of Karpenko N.V. victims”, dated (pay attention to this date!!!) April 25, 2014, that is, four days after he revoked the licenses from the bank. Operationally, however.

And now we carefully read the text of the decree, dated April 25, 2014: « Criminal case 362991 was initiated by the 1st department of the Investigative Department for the ROPD of the Investigative Directorate of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the South-West Administrative District of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the city of Moscow April 28, 2014 (!!! Three days after writing this letter. Time machine, however. Auth.) on the grounds of a crime under part 4 of article 169 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in relation to unidentified persons.

During the preliminary investigation established, what in unspecified time unidentified persons from among the employees of CJSC Bank Zapadny, acting on behalf of Karpenko, transferred to the account (Karpenko's personal account is indicated. Auth.) 701,000,000 rubles, indicating the purpose of the payment "issuance of a loan", and then in the period from October 11, 2013 to February 10, 2014 unidentified persons, being in the premises of Zapadny Bank, received funds in the amount of 700,584,985 rubles».

And now the apotheosis! The investigator says: In fact, Karpenko did not conclude an agreement for a loan in the amount of 701,000,000 rubles, and did not receive funds. I decide to recognize N. V. Karpenko as a victim ».

Here is this strange document:

Such is happiness! In an unknown direction, 700 million rubles in cash disappear, and a few months before the revocation of the license from the bank, and a valiant investigation, within just a few days, finds out that the recipient of the mysterious Karpenko loan is innocent, since “ did not conclude», « did not receive", and generally speaking, " didn't know anything". And almost a billion was stolen at an unspecified time by some unidentified bank employees. And none of the bank's management, it turns out, is not aware of it. Both at the time of obtaining a loan, and during the revocation of a license.

And soon there are also handwriting examinations performed by experts from the ECC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where, “having studied the samples of the signature of citizen Karpenko”, they come to the conclusion that the signatures “are not made by Karpenko, but by another person, imitating Karpenko’s signature.” How! I mean, no one is at fault. And the money disappeared. Precisely before the bankruptcy of the bank.

See for yourself:

And now the final chord. We are looking at the list of shareholders of Zapadny Bank as of April 2014, that is, at the time the license was revoked.

Temkin Mark Anatolyevich - 22.4033%, Tarasov Anton Yuryevich - 19.9735%, Semago Vladimir Vladimirovich - 9.9923%, Nebolsina Vera Nikolaevna - 9.9923%, Khavkunov Sergey Dmitrievich - 9.9287%, Ridge Viktor Nikolaevich - 9 ,2526%, Mironenko Grigory Alexandrovich - 7.3847%, Khalidov Magomed Aindynovich - 1.0183%, Egorov Oleg Alexandrovich - 0.1%. Until April 2, Alexander Grigoriev was also the owner of 19.98% of the shares. But that's not all, and now attention!

Another 9.9542% of the shares of Zapadny Bank belonged to a certain ... Karpenko Nikolai Viktorovich ! Yes, yes, the very one for which the disappeared unsecured loan was issued in the amount of more than 700 million rubles. Moreover, lately he owned the shares of Zapadny not just like that, but through an offshore company and a certain LLC. The names of these firms are also at my disposal.

In addition, Nikolai Karpenko is repeatedly mentioned as a major shareholder of Zapadny Bank and in other official sources of RBC, RIA, Banki.ru, etc.

It turns out a fascinating picture. Watch your hands. Five months before the revocation of the license from Zapadnoye, by the decision of the bank's management (it is clear that loans of this size are only granted by the decision of the Board of Directors and the Management Board), a giant loan of more than $20 million (701 million rubles) is issued in the name of one of the major shareholders bank (Karpenko N.V.). The loan was someone”, unknown to the investigation, was quickly received at the cash desk in cash.

Further. After the revocation of the license and during the bankruptcy proceedings of Zapadny, Karpenko declares that he knows nothing about the super-loan, he did not receive any money, he did not ask for a loan, and the signatures, both on the contract and on orders for receiving money, turn out to be fake. The local police department immediately promptly conducts examinations and confirms that the signatures do not belong to Karpenko and are forged, even recognizing citizen Karpenko as a victim. Moreover, the paper is dated for some reason before the criminal case was initiated!!!

Marvelous! According to the official and very funny version, it turns out: someone unknown, introducing himself as a major shareholder of the bank, Nikolai Karpenko (who should even be known in person), receives a huge cash loan (without any guarantees and documents !!!) and takes it out of the cash register " Western” in eight or ten suitcases. And then no one knows anything about it. Accountants and cashiers did not notice anything. The camcorders didn't record anything. The servers are gone. And the money just disappeared. The management and shareholders of the bank know absolutely nothing about this and smile sweetly, shrugging their shoulders.

And now the questions. Didn't the other 8 shareholders know that almost a billion dollar loan was received in the name of their colleague? Is it really possible to give out such money in cash without any guarantees and documents? Couldn't the recently replaced management of the bank dial Karpenko's number and ask, “Dear Nikolai Viktorovich! Here you have a loan of 700 million. How did you get it and when will you give it back? And then our license is revoked.” Are there really no traces of the 700 million stolen just before the bankruptcy? And by the way, why is such a big case of embezzlement of gigantic sums so quietly conducted by a senior lieutenant from the department of the district investigation department for the South-West Administrative District of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and not the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, which is obliged to deal with the largest frauds?

Yes, and another interesting touch. The same citizen Karpenko Nikolai Viktorovich, who was a shareholder of Zapadny Bank and for whom a loan of 700 million rubles was issued (and "someone" received), successfully worked in the high position of the chief executive officer of Uralsib Bank 121 - the largest specialized banking division of the financial corporation URALSIB.

And here comes the continuation of the story. It turns out, no less than that, the General Director of URALSIB-Capital, Mark Anatolievich Temkin, was also the largest shareholder of Zapadny Bank (22.4%. See the list of shareholders). Moreover, until the very revocation of the license. And, according to some reports, some mysterious giant loan was also issued to Temkin. But that's another story.

And another question arises. How did the "big financier" and shareholder of the bank Mark Temkin manage not to know about the loan of 700 million rubles issued to his colleague in Uralsib and Zapadnoye Karpenko? They don't know each other? Did you not pay attention to the billions in loans in the bank where you were shareholders? Somehow I don't really believe it. Especially if you carefully read about what Temkin does at the bank and at what level. On the website of the corporation "Uralsib" it is reported: " Since 2008, Mark Temkin has been in charge of all divisions of the investment business of FC URALSIB (Department for Operations with Shares, Department for Operations with Debt Instruments, Corporate Finance and Consulting Department, Business Support Department, Financial Analysis Department and Analytical Research Department), and also oversees operations of the company's offices in London and New York. Member of the Board of Directors of the RTS Stock Exchange". And who will believe that specialists of this level did not know or see anything about what was happening in the Zapadny Bank, where they were shareholders? Somehow I don't believe it. And if, indeed, they did not know, then how could everything described above happen? Magic?

I personally do not have the slightest doubt that "someone" with the help of these mysterious loans stole billions of rubles from the Zapadny bank and, having organized the revocation of the license, is now quickly bankrupting the bank. Well, so that the ends are in the water and everyone would scatter in different directions. And I would like to believe that the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation will nevertheless turn its high attention to one of the largest frauds of our time.

To be continued.

Yesterday, the UBEP of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Moscow reported the disclosure of another fraud with bank plastic cards. A student of one of the capital's universities, together with a friend, using fake cards, stole money from the accounts of Russians and foreigners through ATMs.

According to Kommersant, the police came to the scammers thanks to the vigilance of employees of the economic and internal security service of one of the major Moscow banks. As you know, all ATMs in Moscow are equipped with hidden cameras. Looking at the recordings from these cameras, bank security drew attention to a young man who cashed out several thousand US dollars nine times in a row using different cards from one ATM. The bank considered it suspicious and reported the incident to the UBEP.

The police found out that the money was cashed by a student of one of the capital's universities, Anton Obyedkov, who came to Moscow from Tashkent. He was under covert surveillance. It turned out that the student obviously lived on more than one scholarship. Without working anywhere, he nevertheless did not live in a hostel, but rented an apartment, regularly visited youth cafes and nightclubs, where he spent large sums. It also seemed suspicious that the student very often visited computer markets, where he bought specific programs and components from electronic devices that could be used to make fake bank cards. The policemen assumed that they were dealing with a carder - a person involved in fraud with bank cards. Their assumptions were confirmed. The operatives who were following Anton Obedkov saw him withdrawing a large amount of money through an ATM and detained the student. As it turned out, red-handed. In the pockets of Anton Obedkov's clothes, investigators found 23 fake debit bank cards. With their help, $230,000 could be stolen from bank accounts.

The student did not withdraw. He told investigators how, together with his friend Konstantin Svobodin, he stole more than $60,000 through ATMs. According to the suspect Obedkov, Konstantin Svobodin organized the fraud. A certain Ali (the name was changed in the interests of the investigation - "Kommersant") from France, whom the young men met on an Internet forum where carders communicate, sent Konstantin Svobodin data on several dozen French bank cards and PIN codes for a reward. Using this information, Konstantin Svobodin allegedly made the cards and taught Anton Obedkov to withdraw money using them from ATMs. But Anton Obedkov could not explain how fake Russian bank cards got to him. The operatives guessed this themselves, after conducting a search in the student's apartment. The policemen found Anton Obedkov's notebook with data on bank cards of Russian citizens with PIN codes. In addition, microvideo cameras and parts from home-made card readers, devices that copy information from bank cards, were found in the apartment. According to policemen, the students made and installed hidden cameras and such devices on several ATMs, camouflaging them under the plastic frame of the card capture reader. Using this technique, they collected data on bank cards, which they then used to make duplicate cards. The operatives found an explanation for the fact that in the student's notebook some cards had one or two digits of a four-digit PIN-code presumably indicated. Police officers believe that especially careful ATM users, when typing a PIN code, covered the keyboard with their hand, as banks recommend, and the microcamera was able to capture only part of it.

Yesterday Anton Obedkov was arrested by a court decision. He was charged under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Fraud”). Konstantin Svobodin disappeared and was put on the wanted list. Investigators of the Main Investigation Department at the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Moscow, conducting the criminal case, have already informed Interpol about the French accomplice of the swindlers.

Alexander ZHEGLOV

According to experts, Russians today have about 200 million bank cards in their hands. And this is not surprising - more and more organizations transfer the payment of salaries to cards, terminals for cashless payments appear even in small kiosks. All this is closely watched by criminals. The volume of theft of money from the accounts of plastic card holders has reached an unprecedented scale today. Therefore, Our Version has compiled instructions on how not to lose your money.

According to the approximate data of international organizations, the damage from the theft of money from bank cards in the whole world is estimated at 13-15 billion dollars a year. About $4 billion of them are in Russia. Today, the accounts of ordinary customers, and accounts of legal entities in banks, and payment systems of retail chains are in danger.

50 million went to scammers

Once, the Ivanovo city police almost immediately received more than 200 applications for illegal write-offs of large sums of money from the accounts. In most cases, the victims were clients of one of the major banks connected to the Mobile Bank system and having gadgets on the Android OS platform. As it turned out, the mobile device received an SMS offering to download a holiday card or a popular tune. When downloaded, a program was downloaded to the gadget at the same time, which hacked into a bank account and transferred money. Over the past year alone, the number of malicious Trojans found in the mobile devices of Russian citizens has grown nine (!) times. In 2014, Trojans were detected in Russian banks 12,000 times. Today, Department “K” operates in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which has its own specialists in all regions. Its employees regularly find and catch cyber scammers. Thus, recently specialists from departments "K" of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions stopped the activities of a criminal group that was embezzling funds from the accounts of clients of Russian banks. It all started with the fact that the police received information about the appearance in the country of a new type of malicious software - Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.svpeng.a, which targets devices also running on the Android platform. The head of the criminal group that spread the virus turned out to be a 25-year-old resident of the Chelyabinsk region, who has only nine grades of education. The program used by the scammers, after being installed on the device, requested the balance of the bank card linked to the number, hid incoming notifications, and started transferring funds from the bank account to the accounts controlled by the attackers. In total, they stole over 50 million rubles in this way.

ON A NOTE

What to do if you are robbed?

1. Immediately notify the security service of the bank that serves you and write a statement.

2. Fill out and send an application about what happened to the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs https://mvd.ru. An application submitted in this way will be registered and must be answered. Get a registration number and track the actions of specialists. If all victims report the fact of theft to the police, this will greatly facilitate the work of catching criminals.

"Mobile banking" can make your money too mobile

It should be recognized that in this case, as in many others, the victims of the scam themselves gave access to their accounts, following the lead of the scammers. There are many such methods of deception using a mobile phone in the arsenal of criminals. One of the most popular is sending an SMS in a wide fan to random people as if on behalf of a bank with a warning about the zeroing of the account and a request to call the specified phone number. Then, during a telephone conversation, the scammers say that perhaps there was an error and the money did not go anywhere from the account. And in order to check this, the victim needs to go to any ATM, give its number, insert a card into the receiver and enter a pin code. After that, the attackers gain access to the client's account and transfer money to accounts accountable to them. No less dangerous is the “Mobile Bank” service, which many banks are actively offering to their customers today. The main thing to remember is that if you lose your phone or change your SIM card, be sure to turn off the Mobile Bank service. Indeed, after the number has not been used for three months, the telecom operator can re-sell it. And if the new owner of your old mobile number (or phone) comes up with the idea to withdraw your money from incoming notifications, it will not be difficult to do this.

Fake ATM

Often, criminals use ATMs as weapons. One of the most common methods is the imposition of a fake keyboard with a memory block on the ATM keyboard, which allows you to find out the pin code. Or attackers install a video camera on the ATM that fixes the set of pin-code, and sometimes it is even openly mounted on the wall, pretending that the device was installed by the bank. In this case, the camera is attached in tandem with the device through which the card passes when it is inserted into the terminal. This device reads the magnetic stripe data of the card and transmits the information over a short distance. If you see suspicious people or a car near the terminal, it is possible that this is where the signal receiver is located. Together, these devices allow you to make a duplicate of a bank card and withdraw money. You also need to keep in mind that often in bank branches the doors of the premises where the ATM is located are opened using a card, and this makes it possible for criminals to install their devices at the installation site of the magnetic stripe data reader to open the door. So be careful. However, there are also simpler ways. For example, if an ATM is installed in a poorly lit area, scammers can simply cover the slot for issuing money with a transparent film. As a result, the cardholder believes that the ATM did not work and leaves, and the fraudsters extract the money left in the ATM. But still, the most original way recorded to date, perhaps, is the installation of fake ATMs of non-existent banks, which, when cards are inserted, read their data and transfer them to crooks, naturally, without issuing money.

MEANWHILE

In 2015, Kaspersky Lab announced a major cyber scam involving hackers from Russia, China and Europe. $300 million was stolen from customer accounts of over 100 banks in 30 countries (identified amount). Using fictitious accounts, hackers took over

millions of dollars of clients of banks in Russia, Japan, Switzerland, the USA, the Netherlands, etc. Attackers from the Carbanak group (as they called themselves) managed to inject the malware of the same name into the computers of bank employees who processed data on daily transfers and kept accounting records. Thanks to the program, hackers could track all the actions of bank employees, down to keystrokes. Money was withdrawn through

ATMs or transferred to dummy accounts. It is worth noting that not a single bank out of 100 admitted to cases of theft of money from accounts, fearing an outflow of customers (it is assumed that the real amount stolen was close to $1 billion).

When filling out documents for your bank, indicate only the last four digits of the account.

If you inserted the card into the card reader and the ATM refuses to give it to you, you must immediately block your "plastic" through the bank or by phone.

Paying with a card somewhere in a cafe, always look at the contents of the check. If you find a mistake, be sure to tear the first check and ask to delete the old account with the provision of a new one, otherwise the payment amount may be debited from the bank account twice.

Use only a chip card. She is more secure. Counterfeiting a chip card is more difficult and more expensive than counterfeiting a non-chip card.

If you receive an SMS message stating that your card has been blocked and you are asked to call an unknown number, you should not call it. It is better to contact the nearest bank office for clarification.

Withdraw money from trusted ATMs under video surveillance.

What is on the Internet, what is on the ground - it is not so difficult to steal. It is difficult to do this so that later they do not plant. Read an article about how to steal on the Internet.

The Internet is increasingly becoming a scene for detective stories with their greedy villains, brave "robing hoods", chases, puzzles and a completely predictable ending. In this article, we have collected 5 interesting scenarios of cybercrimes and offline punishments that followed them.

Albert Gonzalez can be considered the hacker of the century. The first high-profile case in his criminal career was the resource Shadowcrew, which he created together with a team of like-minded people. In this community, carders shared information about stolen credit cards, data about their owners, and also arranged auctions.

About 4,000 people were active on the “carder exchange”, and the FBI soon became interested in it. To avoid prison, Gonzalez had to cooperate with the authorities - from 2003 to 2004 he provided data on Shadowcrew, which led to mass arrests of its members and the closure of the community. For the information provided, Gonzalez even received money from the FBI - $ 75 thousand a year, but secretly he continued to engage in scams.

He organized a new criminal scheme: using a sniffer program that intercepts and analyzes the traffic of wi-fi networks of companies, he gained access to secret data. So, having traveled by car for half a year around the offices of the TJX Companies corporation and having worked properly with their network, he stole more than 40 million bank card numbers and data on their owners for subsequent resale.

Already in May 2008, Gonzalez and 10 of his "colleagues" were arrested during a special operation by the FBI. Later it turned out that Gonzalez was involved in organizing the hacking of the Heartland Payment System (5th largest payment system in the US and 9th in the world), the ATM system of the 7-Eleven retailer and the Hannaford Bros.

In total, Gonzalez has been involved in the theft and resale of data on 170 million cards, thanks to which he lived in a big way, spending money on cars, apartments in Miami, expensive watches and parties. During a search of his house, half a million in cash was found and another $1 million was buried in the yard of his parents' house.

Gonzalez is currently serving a 20-year sentence in a federal penitentiary in Michigan. He is scheduled to be released in 2025.

December 21, 2012 Americans Elvis Rafael Rodriguez and Emir Yasser Yehe together with an international group of cybercriminals staged one of the largest crimes in history. They hacked the Indian and US prepaid debit card databases of Mastercard and Visa.

Then the attackers canceled the cash withdrawal restrictions on the accounts and with the help of changed pin codes withdrew $ 5 million from ATMs in 26 countries of the world (including Russia). Two months later, the criminals repeated the operation, withdrawing $40 million from ATMs.

Fraudsters forged cards and entered the data of customers of banks in the United Arab Emirates and Oman on them, since Middle Eastern banks often allow their customers to hold large amounts on debit cards, and their movements are not very strict.

The criminal team was assisted by at least 100 people in different countries who made 36,000 withdrawals. On May 9, 8 people were arrested in New York on suspicion of involvement in this crime.

After the theft, some (obviously not the wisest) perpetrators were photographed with wads of stolen cash, newly acquired Rolex watches, and expensive cars.

It is reported that the organizers who developed the complex scheme, and the hackers who were directly involved in hacking the banking system, were outside the United States and received the lion's share of the funds. Those who cashed out earned no more than 20% of the total catch.

70s: John Draper aka Cap'n Crunch, found out that a toy whistle from a box of cornflakes sounds on the same frequency as the access signal to the telephone network. He called a long-distance number and blew his whistle while dialing. This signal told the system that Draper had hung up.

Thus, the line was considered free, and all further actions were not recorded by the telephone system. After these experiments, Draper, together with his friends Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, created the Blue Box device, which allows you to simulate the sounds of the telephone network and make free calls around the world.

Vladimir Levin is an iconic figure in the field of information security. He owes this status, among other things, to his criminal activities. In 1994, Levin penetrated the internal network of the American bank Citibank, hacking into the bank's analog modem connection and gaining access to several accounts belonging to corporate clients.

He, along with a group of assistants, managed to scatter about $10 million into accounts in the United States, Finland, Germany, Israel and the Netherlands, but the accomplices were arrested, and already in March 1995, Levin himself was caught at the London airport. The hacker managed to cash out only 400 thousand dollars, the bank was able to return the rest of the stolen money back.

Under US law, Levin was threatened with a term of up to 60 years in prison, but the prosecution and defense entered into a “pre-trial agreement”, and he was assigned only 36 months in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In November 2011, the FBI announced it had exposed the biggest cybercrime in history. An unprecedented investigation, conducted by the joint efforts of international law enforcement agencies, private enterprises, has identified seven Estonians and a Russian citizen who organized a giant botnet computer network.

During their criminal operation, called Ghost Click, more than four million computers around the world were infected, including those belonging to NASA. The group spread the DNSChanger virus, which changed the addresses of domain servers, redirecting users to the requested websites through servers controlled by criminals.

For four years, the group redirected their web browsers to advertising links, for "fraudulent clicks" on which the defendants and their clients were paid money. As a result, the team was able to earn more than $14 million and cause significant damage to large online stores, the total losses of which are in the billions. In the case, 6 people were arrested, who in total face more than 85 years.

Another criminal scheme invented in the post-Soviet space in the middle of the 2000s - the system of "money mules". First, groups of scammers use Trojan viruses such as Zeus and URLZone, as well as "keyloggers" (programs that register computer keyboard strokes), with which they hack into the computer systems of small businesses using online banking.

Credentials are stolen, and accounts are naturally emptied by "money mules". These are unsuspecting people who are hired for allegedly legal work; in fact, they act as financial intermediaries, and their bank accounts are used to transfer money from the accounts of the victims to the accounts of the perpetrators.

Under this scheme, a gang of Ukrainians Yevhen Kulibaba and Yuriy Konovalenko from October 2009 to September 2010 stole $ 30 million worldwide, including 6 million pounds from financial institutions in the UK. They organized a network of agents to withdraw stolen funds from Britain to Eastern Europe.

Kulibaba from the territory of Ukraine organized the spread of viruses and cleared accounts, and Konovalenko directed the actions of the "mules". The leaders of the gang received 4 years and 8 months, many ordinary members also went to prison.

The Internet is increasingly becoming a scene for detective stories with their greedy villains, brave "robing hoods", chases, puzzles and a completely predictable ending. In this article, we have collected 5 interesting scenarios of cybercrimes and offline punishments that followed them.

1

Albert Gonzalez can be considered the hacker of the century. The first high-profile case in his criminal career was the resource Shadowcrew, which he created together with a team of like-minded people. In this community, carders shared information about stolen credit cards, data about their owners, and also arranged auctions. About 4,000 people were active on the “carder exchange”, and the FBI soon became interested in it. To avoid prison, Gonzalez had to cooperate with the authorities - from 2003 to 2004 he provided data on Shadowcrew, which led to mass arrests of its members and the closure of the community. For the information provided, Gonzalez even received money from the FBI - $ 75 thousand a year, but secretly he continued to engage in scams. He organized a new criminal scheme: using a sniffer program that intercepts and analyzes the traffic of wi-fi networks of companies, he gained access to secret data. So, having traveled by car for half a year around the offices of the TJX Companies corporation and having worked properly with their network, he stole more than 40 million bank card numbers and data on their owners for subsequent resale.

Top 5 countries with the highest level of cybercrime

USA 23%
China 9%
Germany 6%
England 5%
Brazil 4%

As early as May 2008 Gonzalez and 10 of his "colleagues" were arrested during a special operation by the FBI. Later it turned out that Gonzalez was involved in organizing the hacking of the Heartland Payment System (5th largest payment system in the US and 9th in the world), the ATM system of the 7-Eleven retailer and the Hannaford Bros. In total, Gonzalez has been involved in the theft and resale of data on 170 million cards, thanks to which he lived in a big way, spending money on cars, apartments in Miami, expensive watches and parties. During a search of his house, half a million in cash was found and another $1 million was buried in the yard of his parents' house.

Gonzalez at present is serving a 20-year sentence in a federal penitentiary in Michigan. He is scheduled to be released in 2025.

2

December 21, 2012 Americans Elvis Rafael Rodriguez and Emir Yasser Yehe, together with an international group of cybercriminals, staged one of the largest crimes in history. They hacked the Indian and US prepaid debit card databases of Mastercard and Visa. Then the attackers canceled the cash withdrawal restrictions on the accounts and with the help of changed pin codes withdrew $ 5 million from ATMs in 26 countries of the world (including Russia). Two months later, the criminals repeated the operation, withdrawing $40 million from ATMs. Fraudsters forged cards and entered the data of customers of banks in the United Arab Emirates and Oman on them, since Middle Eastern banks often allow their customers to hold large amounts on debit cards, and their movements are not very strict.

helped the criminal team at least 100 people in different countries who made 36,000 withdrawals. On May 9, 8 people were arrested in New York on suspicion of involvement in this crime.

After the theft some (apparently not the wisest) criminals were photographed with wads of stolen cash, newly acquired Rolex watches and expensive cars.

It is reported that the organizers who developed a complex scheme, and hackers who were directly involved in hacking the banking system, were outside the United States and received the lion's share of the funds. Those who cashed out earned no more than 20% of the total catch.

John Draper his friends at Apple

70s: John Draper, aka Cap'n Crunch, figured out that a toy whistle made from a box of cornflakes sounds on the same frequency as the telephone network access signal. He called a long-distance number and blew his whistle while dialing. This signal told the system that Draper had hung up. Thus, the line was considered free, and all further actions were not recorded by the telephone system. After these experiments, Draper, together with his friends Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, created the Blue Box device, which allows you to simulate the sounds of the telephone network and make free calls around the world.

3

Vladimir Levin is an iconic figure in the field of information security. He owes this status, among other things, to his criminal activities. In 1994, Levin penetrated the internal network of the American bank Citibank, hacking into the bank's analog modem connection and gaining access to several accounts belonging to corporate clients.

He, along with a group of assistants managed to scatter about $ 10 million on accounts in the USA, Finland, Germany, Israel and the Netherlands, but the accomplices were arrested, and already in March 1995, Levin himself was caught at the London airport. The hacker managed to cash out only 400 thousand dollars, the bank was able to return the rest of the stolen money back.

According to American law Levin faced up to 60 years in prison, but the prosecution and defense entered into a "pre-trial agreement" and he was given only 36 months in prison and a $250,000 fine.

For the year, cybercriminals cost the 24 largest countries about $388 billion. suffer from their actions. 431 million people.

4

In November 2011, the FBI announced about exposing the biggest cybercrime in history. An unprecedented investigation, conducted by the joint efforts of international law enforcement agencies, private enterprises, has identified seven Estonians and a Russian citizen who organized a giant botnet computer network.

The first hacker in history

The first hacker can be considered the magician Nevil Maskelyne, who in 1903, commissioned by the Eastern Telegraph Company, ruined the presentation of wireless data transmission by John Fleming and Guglielmo Marconi, showing publicly that the transmission could be interfered with. The projection lamp in the theater where the event was held, in Morse code, transmitted the message "Nonsense" and rhymes that "one scoundrel-Italian planned to deceive everyone."

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Another criminal scheme invented in the post-Soviet space in the middle of the 2000s - the system of "money mules". First, groups of scammers use Trojan viruses such as Zeus and URLZone, as well as "keyloggers" (programs that register computer keyboard strokes), with which they hack into the computer systems of small businesses using online banking. Credentials are stolen, and accounts are naturally emptied by "money mules". These are unsuspecting people who are hired for allegedly legal work; in fact, they act as financial intermediaries, and their bank accounts are used to transfer money from the accounts of the victims to the accounts of the perpetrators.

According to this scheme a gang of Ukrainians Yevhen Kulibaba and Yuriy Konovalenko from October 2009 to September 2010 stole $30 million worldwide, including £6 million from UK financial institutions. They organized a network of agents to withdraw stolen funds from Britain to Eastern Europe. Kulibaba from the territory of Ukraine organized the spread of viruses and cleared accounts, and Konovalenko directed the actions of the "mules". The leaders of the gang received 4 years and 8 months, many ordinary members also went to prison.

Last year, 44% of Internet users over the age of 18 experienced online scammers.

To steal money from someone else's account, you will have to infect the victim's computer with a virus through which you can establish remote access.

After waiting for an unsuspecting user to log into their bank account, you can discreetly transfer money to your fake account in the Cayman Islands.

An easier way is to send a fake letter to the victim on behalf of his bank asking him to log into the account and change some information.

When the user enters his logins, passwords, card number, pin codes and other data there, his money is almost in your pocket.

To cash out money from a mobile phone, you will have to hire a dropper - a figurehead to whom the mobile phone number is registered. He needs to be persuaded to go to the office of the mobile operator with an application for receiving money from a mobile account.

Cover image: Surian Soosay/flickr.com