An individual originally from the city of Orenburg, Russia, has been accused of stealing the bank accounts of multiple citizens. A member of the local Investigation Department has been responsible for bringing charges against the user, as provided for in articles 158 and 174 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
The defendant was reportedly employed by a telecommunications company, who abusing his position copied the SIM card identification codes of some of the company’s customers. Outside of his working hours, and using his knowledge in telecommunications, the defendant began sending messages to a bank’s customer service numbers posing as customers. Finally, the defendant managed to intercept the authentication keys of the affected users.
After repeated attempts to link a bank card to a phone, the employee transferred funds from those affected to various accounts under his control and then turned them into cryptocurrencies, trying to cover his tracks.
In total, 124 people were affected by the employee, who managed to steal about 1 million rubles. Despite the sophisticated methods employed by the individual, authorities eventually detected his location and arrested him; the laws in force in Russia provide sentences of up to 20 years in prison in cases like this, although the accused is still awaiting his sentence.
He is a cyber security and malware researcher. He studied Computer Science and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2006. He is actively working as an cyber security investigator. He also worked for different security companies. His everyday job includes researching about new cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in enterprise security implementation.