&host=www.rt.com&uri=/news/sci-tech/hackers-gang-russian-bust/&via=1.1 8.254.9.153:80 (Footprint 4.8/FPMCP)&ua=CCBot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html))
Police bust hacker gang who made $30 million in one month
Published: 31 August, 2010, 10:01
Edited: 24 September, 2010, 01:34
TAGS: Crime, Russia, SciTech, Law, Prime Time Russia
Russian police have detained ten people who managed to get one billion roubles, approximately $30 million, through a clever scheme involving a computer virus, blackmail and SMS billing.
Website Lifenews.ru reported on Tuesday that ten members of the criminal group had been detained in Moscow. Operatives of the city police directorate for fighting economic crimes have told journalists that the suspects created a computer virus that blocked all programs on the users’ computers and put a pornographic picture on the screen together with a demand to send an SMS to a certain number to receive a code that would supposedly unblock the computer. For the SMS the victims were billed about 300 roubles or $10. However, sending the SMS never led to any results and some users have sent it repeatedly.
According to the police, the suspects made about one billion roubles from the scam, or $33 million in just one month.
Although the virus extortion scheme is widespread in the world (it even has the special title of “ransomware”), Russians were probably first to invent the virus that blocks the Windows operating system completely.
30.08.2010, 18:34
2 comments
What does space smell like? Ask a nose that knowsDoes space have a smell? It certainly does, and it is very peculiar; you will not confuse it with anything else. That is according to ISS Commander Aleksandr Skvortsov in answer to a question sent from Earth. |
31.08.2010, 17:39
1 comment
To modernization through educationRussia’s State Council has discussed ways of how to improve vocational education in the country in order to make it meet the demands of the times. |
luca valenzin, I think that the Medvedev administration is doing a good job of modernizing the country. Certain habits of the Russian people need to be changed. This is no example though, but I mean other "attitudes." These "attitudes" are hard to explain so for now I will just call them attitudes. I have met many Russians over here in the United States and they seem like moral and sensible people. Still yet, the stereotype of the "genius Russian super-criminal" still persists.
maybe they are criminals, but if they are so good as programmers I hope they will open a legal company and make money that way. Russia needs to built a small company network in order to have its people get better and stop being either poor (or struggling) or crooks !
The head can go to Skolkovo...spending the $30 million in national projects.