Authorities Charge 37 Alleged Money Mules in New York

Thirty-seven people were charged by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney yesterday for their roles in international fraud schemes that use a banking trojan called "ZeuS" to steal more than $3 million from US bank accounts.

All of the defendants acted as money mules or recruited money mules, who laundered stolen money on behalf of cybercriminal gangs in Eastern Europe.

Ten of the defendants were arrested yesterday and another ten were already in custody. Seventeen are still wanted and some are believed to have left the country.

According to the authorities, the money mules used their own identities or fake documents to open accounts with various US banks.

Money was then fraudulently transfered into those accounts with the purpose of being withdrawn by the defendants and sent to fraudsters overseas.

Hackers who were initiating the fraudulent transfers were using the ZeuS trojan to compromise the accounts of US-based companies, public institutions and organizations.

ZeuS, also known as Zbot, is a piece of malware specifically designed to steal online banking credentials, financial information and other sensitive information by injecting itself into the browser process.

The more advanced versions of the trojan also allow attackers to connect through the computers of their victims to perform transactions, thus defeating the security checks implemented by banks.

Most of the money mules are citizens of countries in Eastern Europe, but were either established in US or were here on J1 student visas.

The recruiters supplied them with fake passports and instructed them to open the bank accounts, where the received transfers in the amount of just under $10,000.

After keeping 8% - 10% of the money for themselves, they sent further up the fraud chain, usually by wire transfer or physically carrying it with them when leaving the US.

The New York charges come just two days after UK authorities dismantled a ZBot gang, responsible for stealing over $9 million from the accounts of British customers in just three months.