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On the territory of Belarus, there were two organized groups that were engaged in embezzlement of money from users of the largest ad platform. More than 2,700 criminal cases were initiated on the facts of their activities, which are combined in one proceeding. Details of the high-profile investigation were told on the air of the program "Causes and Consequences" on "Radio-Minsk" by the official representative of the Investigative Committee Alexander Sukhodolsky, the correspondent of the agency "Minsk-Novosti" reports.
The main tool for committing crimes on the Internet is phishing links, when clicking on which the user is misled. As a result, he discloses confidential data to fraudsters, and they steal money from the card account. This is exactly how cyber fraudsters acted on Kufar, pretty much tarnishing the reputation of the online ad platform.
To understand the scale of the atrocities committed by online scammers, let's start with the numbers. Members of an organized criminal group committed about 20 thousand thefts. The damage caused by computer fraudsters is estimated at millions of rubles. The criminal scam group included more than 1,300 members. All of them observed conspiracy measures and communicated anonymously, exchanging information in closed chats. The Telegram messenger was the medium for communication, access to criminal tools, distribution of funds between participants and their training. Investigators found out that the swindlers committed up to 30 thefts from the card accounts of Belarusian citizens per day. More than 2,700 criminal cases have been initiated on such facts, which are combined in one proceeding.
Even before the arrest of the members of the criminal group, the IC employees gained access to the software products of the scam group. They studied in detail the mechanism of committing crimes, and at the same time modified the software. This made it impossible to further steal money, which reduced the activities of the organized crime group to almost zero.
In addition, the Investigative Committee established a complex structure of the criminal group. It should be noted that the activities of cyber scammers were organized quite professionally. Not all organizations have the kind of staff that scammers came up with. Judge for yourself what roles the fraudsters played:
• "topicstarter" – the leader of an organized group, the founders (co-founders) of fraudulent schemes;
• administrators — persons who have access to the control panel of Internet resources used in criminal activities;
• "coders" — persons who develop software used in criminal activities;
• "SIM-activators" — persons who assist members of a criminal group in activating accounts in WhatsApp and Viber messengers, for their further use in communication with persons for subsequent theft;
• "drop guides" — persons who search for third-party citizens to open card accounts on them, which are then used to commit theft;
• "Drivers" are persons who make unauthorized access to a compromised account to the user's card account in order to steal and transfer money to accounts and electronic wallets controlled by an organized group;
• "workers" are persons who correspond or talk with users of kufar.by, and convince them to click on fish on various far-fetched pretextslink to compromise their payment details.
Physically, the members of the scam group are located and live both in Belarus and in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland and other countries. All of them are young people aged 17 to 30 years. Many carried out their criminal activities simultaneously as part of several different criminal groups that specialize in different methods of Internet theft.
The Main Directorate for Digital Development of the Preliminary Investigation of the Investigative Committee has completed an investigation against one of the leaders of the largest transnational scam community who worked in Belarus.
As investigators found out, the organized criminal group was created in 2021. It included more than 700 participants from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and other Russian-speaking countries.
The scam group specialized in stealing money from the card accounts of users of online trading platforms using phishing Internet resources that imitate such sites, delivery services, and payment services.
From 2021 to 2023, members of the group stole at least 1.7 million rubles from Belarusian citizens more than 6 thousand times using phishing.
Thanks to the use of new developments and experimental techniques, the identities of the leadership were established, the criminal tools used by the group and the crimes committed were recorded.
At the initial stage, the investigation focused on suppressing the criminal activities of the organized group, which continues to commit hundreds of thefts every month. To do this, it was necessary to identify and detain one of the key figures of the group - a software developer. Such software made it possible to automate the theft. Among cyber fraudsters, such a member of the group is called a "coder". He used all kinds of technical tricks for his conspiracy. For example, he never made personal eye contact with other members of the group - he used only online communication and fictitious data. The investigators had only his network pseudonym at their disposal.
From the bits of information left by the "coder" on the Internet, it was possible to create a "digital portrait" of him and establish his identity. The key figure in the transnational scam community turned out to be a 17-year-old Minsk resident.
From the bits of information left by the "coder" on the Internet, it was possible to create a "digital portrait" of him and establish his identity. The key figure in the transnational scam community turned out to be a 17-year-old Minsk resident.
Investigators, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, planned and implemented a unique operation to detain the head of the scammers. The multi-level system of protection against exposure built by him turned out to be useless. Investigators and police managed to neutralize the cyber fraudster in his apartment and gain access to all digital evidence. During the search, software tools for committing crimes, databases with information about the criminal activities of groups were found and seized.
For his work, the young man received 5% of the amount of all money stolen by the scam community from Belarusian citizens. For a year and a half, I studiedIn the criminal activities of the group, before his arrest, he earned more than 90,000 rubles.
The teenager pleaded guilty to participating in the activities of the transnational scam community, spoke in detail about the members of the group and the crimes they committed. Later, in the course of several dozen operations in various regions of the country, as well as in Russia, another 34 members of the transnational scam community, including from among the leaders, were detained.
Almost all of them have already been convicted. According to the verdict of the court, depending on their role in the criminal scheme, they were sentenced to 5 to 8 years in prison.
Video:
The main tool for committing crimes on the Internet is phishing links, when clicking on which the user is misled. As a result, he discloses confidential data to fraudsters, and they steal money from the card account. This is exactly how cyber fraudsters acted on Kufar, pretty much tarnishing the reputation of the online ad platform.
To understand the scale of the atrocities committed by online scammers, let's start with the numbers. Members of an organized criminal group committed about 20 thousand thefts. The damage caused by computer fraudsters is estimated at millions of rubles. The criminal scam group included more than 1,300 members. All of them observed conspiracy measures and communicated anonymously, exchanging information in closed chats. The Telegram messenger was the medium for communication, access to criminal tools, distribution of funds between participants and their training. Investigators found out that the swindlers committed up to 30 thefts from the card accounts of Belarusian citizens per day. More than 2,700 criminal cases have been initiated on such facts, which are combined in one proceeding.
Even before the arrest of the members of the criminal group, the IC employees gained access to the software products of the scam group. They studied in detail the mechanism of committing crimes, and at the same time modified the software. This made it impossible to further steal money, which reduced the activities of the organized crime group to almost zero.
In addition, the Investigative Committee established a complex structure of the criminal group. It should be noted that the activities of cyber scammers were organized quite professionally. Not all organizations have the kind of staff that scammers came up with. Judge for yourself what roles the fraudsters played:
• "topicstarter" – the leader of an organized group, the founders (co-founders) of fraudulent schemes;
• administrators — persons who have access to the control panel of Internet resources used in criminal activities;
• "coders" — persons who develop software used in criminal activities;
• "SIM-activators" — persons who assist members of a criminal group in activating accounts in WhatsApp and Viber messengers, for their further use in communication with persons for subsequent theft;
• "drop guides" — persons who search for third-party citizens to open card accounts on them, which are then used to commit theft;
• "Drivers" are persons who make unauthorized access to a compromised account to the user's card account in order to steal and transfer money to accounts and electronic wallets controlled by an organized group;
• "workers" are persons who correspond or talk with users of kufar.by, and convince them to click on fish on various far-fetched pretextslink to compromise their payment details.
Physically, the members of the scam group are located and live both in Belarus and in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland and other countries. All of them are young people aged 17 to 30 years. Many carried out their criminal activities simultaneously as part of several different criminal groups that specialize in different methods of Internet theft.
The Main Directorate for Digital Development of the Preliminary Investigation of the Investigative Committee has completed an investigation against one of the leaders of the largest transnational scam community who worked in Belarus.
As investigators found out, the organized criminal group was created in 2021. It included more than 700 participants from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and other Russian-speaking countries.
The scam group specialized in stealing money from the card accounts of users of online trading platforms using phishing Internet resources that imitate such sites, delivery services, and payment services.
From 2021 to 2023, members of the group stole at least 1.7 million rubles from Belarusian citizens more than 6 thousand times using phishing.
Thanks to the use of new developments and experimental techniques, the identities of the leadership were established, the criminal tools used by the group and the crimes committed were recorded.
At the initial stage, the investigation focused on suppressing the criminal activities of the organized group, which continues to commit hundreds of thefts every month. To do this, it was necessary to identify and detain one of the key figures of the group - a software developer. Such software made it possible to automate the theft. Among cyber fraudsters, such a member of the group is called a "coder". He used all kinds of technical tricks for his conspiracy. For example, he never made personal eye contact with other members of the group - he used only online communication and fictitious data. The investigators had only his network pseudonym at their disposal.
From the bits of information left by the "coder" on the Internet, it was possible to create a "digital portrait" of him and establish his identity. The key figure in the transnational scam community turned out to be a 17-year-old Minsk resident.
From the bits of information left by the "coder" on the Internet, it was possible to create a "digital portrait" of him and establish his identity. The key figure in the transnational scam community turned out to be a 17-year-old Minsk resident.
Investigators, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, planned and implemented a unique operation to detain the head of the scammers. The multi-level system of protection against exposure built by him turned out to be useless. Investigators and police managed to neutralize the cyber fraudster in his apartment and gain access to all digital evidence. During the search, software tools for committing crimes, databases with information about the criminal activities of groups were found and seized.
For his work, the young man received 5% of the amount of all money stolen by the scam community from Belarusian citizens. For a year and a half, I studiedIn the criminal activities of the group, before his arrest, he earned more than 90,000 rubles.
The teenager pleaded guilty to participating in the activities of the transnational scam community, spoke in detail about the members of the group and the crimes they committed. Later, in the course of several dozen operations in various regions of the country, as well as in Russia, another 34 members of the transnational scam community, including from among the leaders, were detained.
Almost all of them have already been convicted. According to the verdict of the court, depending on their role in the criminal scheme, they were sentenced to 5 to 8 years in prison.
Video:
