An international law enforcement team arrested a Chinese national and disrupted a massive botnet that authorities said he operated for nearly a decade, amassing at least $99 million in profits by reselling access to criminals who used it for identity theft, child exploitation, pandemic relief scams and other financial fraud.
The “911 S5” botnet, a network of malware-infected computers spanning nearly 200 countries, is likely the world’s largest, the Department of Justice said Wednesday, citing FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The Justice Department said in a news release that 35-year-old Wang Yunhe was arrested on May 24. Details of his place of detention were not available, and a Justice Department spokesman said the department would “refrain from making any further comments beyond the press release.”
According to an indictment filed in the Eastern District of Texas, cybercriminals used a network of zombie home computers to “steal billions of dollars from financial institutions, credit card issuers and account holders, and federal lending programs since 2014.”
Wang sold access to 19 million hijacked Windows PCs, including more than 613,000 in the United States, to criminals who “used that access to commit a staggering array of crimes, including victimizing children, endangering public safety, and defrauding financial institutions and federal lending programs,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the investigation.
He said criminals who bought access to the zombie network from Wang caused an estimated loss of more than $5.9 billion by defrauding relief programs. Authorities estimated that 560,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims originated from the compromised IP addresses.
Wang allegedly controlled the botnet through 150 dedicated servers, half of which he leased from a U.S.-based online service provider.
According to the indictment, Wang used his ill-gotten gains to purchase 21 properties in the United States, China, Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and St. Kitts and Nevis, and obtained citizenship through his investments.
In a press release, the Ministry of Justice expressed gratitude to the Singapore and Thai police and other authorities for their assistance.
