Cybercrime

Russian Sentenced to Prison in U.S. for Role in Cybercrime Scheme

The United States on Monday announced the sentencing of a Russian national for his role in a scheme involving the theft and trading of personal and financial information.

Ionut Arghire

November 3, 2020

The United States on Monday announced the sentencing of a Russian national for his role in a scheme involving the theft and trading of personal and financial information.

The man, Aleksandr Brovko, 36, admitted in February to conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud. Documents presented in court revealed that he was active on multiple elite, online forums where Russian-speaking cybercriminals traded tools and services.

Between 2007 and 2019, Brovko collaborated with other cybercriminals for the monetization of large amounts of data stolen through botnets. He created scripts that were used to parse botnet logs, but also performed manual searches of the data, to extract the information that could be easily monetized.

Furthermore, he checked the validity of stolen account credentials and determined whether the compromised financial accounts had enough funds to be used in fraudulent transactions.

Over the course of the conspiracy, Brovko trafficked more than 200,000 records consisting of personally identifying information or details on financial accounts, court documents reveal.

Brovko’s actions resulted in estimated intended losses of more than $100 million. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.

“For over a decade, Brovko participated in a scheme to gain access to Americans’ personal and financial information, causing more than $100 million in intended loss. This prosecution and the sentence imposed show the department’s commitment to work with our international and state counterparts to bring cybercriminals to justice no matter where they are located,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said.

Written By Ionut Arghire

Ionut Arghire is an international correspondent for SecurityWeek.

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