BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The United States has imposed sanctions on three Chinese citizens and three Thailand-based firms for having links with a cybercrime network that enabled users to commit cyber fraud including bomb threats and apply for Covid aid, siphoning billions off the U.S. government coffers.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said it designated Yunhe Wang, Jingping Liu, and Yanni Zheng, for their activities associated with the malicious botnet tied to the residential proxy service known as 911 S5. OFAC also sanctioned Spicy Code Company Limited, Tulip Biz Pattaya Group Company Limited, and Lily Suites Company Limited, which were owned or controlled by Yunhe Wang.
'These individuals leveraged their malicious botnet technology to compromise personal devices, enabling cyber criminals to fraudulently secure economic assistance intended for those in need and to terrorize our citizens with bomb threats,' said Under Secretary Brian E. Nelson.
The 911 S5 botnet was a malicious service that compromised victim computers and allowed cyber criminals to proxy their internet connections through these compromised computers.
Once a cyber criminal had disguised their digital tracks through the 911 S5 botnet, their cyber crimes appeared to trace back to the victim's computer instead of their own, the Treasury said in a press release.
The 911 S5 botnet is estimated to have compromised approximately 19 million IP addresses and facilitated the submission of tens of thousands of fraudulent applications related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act programs by its users, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars to the U.S. government.
The IP addresses compromised by the 911 S5 service were also linked to a series of bomb threats made throughout the United States in July 2022.
The Treasury said the massive cyber-enabled fraudulent scheme was broken by a joint effort involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Export Enforcement, as well as partners in Singapore and Thailand.
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