US charges Chinese national related to cybercrime network

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US Justice Department announced Wednesday that it has arrested and charged a Chinese national in connection with a cybercrime network.

The agency said in a statement YunHe Wang, 35, a Chinese national and St. Kitts and Nevis citizen-by-investment, was arrested Friday on criminal charges arising from his deployment of malware and the creation and operation of a residential proxy service known as “911 S5.”

Wang and others are alleged to have created and disseminated malware to compromise and amass a network of millions of residential Windows computers worldwide from 2014 through July 2022, it said.

These devices were associated with more than 19 million IP addresses, including 613,841 located in the US, while Wang generated millions of dollars by offering cybercriminals access to these infected IP addresses for a fee, it added.

The 911 S5 botnet was used to commit "cyberattacks, large-scale fraud, child exploitation, harassment, bomb threats and export violations," said US Attorney General Merrick Garland.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the botnet infected computers in nearly 200 countries and facilitated financial fraud and identity theft, adding Wang's infrastructure and assets were seized.

The US estimates that 560,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims originated from compromised IP addresses, resulting in a confirmed fraudulent loss that exceeds $5.9 billion related to coronavirus pandemic relief programs.

The US Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it imposed sanctions on Wang, in addition to Jingping Liu and Yanni Zheng, for their activities associated with the malicious botnet.

Three companies -- Spicy Code Company Limited, Tulip Biz Pattaya Group Company Limited and Lily Suites Company Limited -- were also sanctioned for being owned or controlled by Wang.

Wang is charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud, substantive computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum penalty of 65 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.