Russian 'Hackers' Detained for $1 Million Theft From Bank Clients

By The Moscow Times

April 12, 2015

The official police statement said the virus was created by a 25-year-old member of the group who lived in the Chelyabinsk region in the Ural Mountains. Almonroth / Wikicommons

Five alleged members of a hacking ring have been detained on suspicion of stealing more than 50 million rubles (about $1 million) from Russian bank accounts, police said Saturday.

The group used a virus to gain access to the accounts of clients who had smartphones that used the Android operating system, the Interior Ministry's cybercrime department said in a statement. ?

The FlashNord news agency cited an undisclosed police source as saying that 20,000 to 30,000 clients of Russia's largest state bank, Sberbank, had been targeted with the virus.

The official police statement said the virus was created by a 25-year-old member of the group who lived in the Chelyabinsk region in the Ural Mountains.

The group's alleged members have been charged with theft, as well as "creating, using and distributing harmful computer programs," the statement said.?

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