Hackers profit from US pension funds

    Tens of millions of dollars have disappeared from the accumulative - including pension - accounts of Americans, RIA Novosti reports with reference to ABC. The Federal Securities and Exchange Commission under the Government ( SEC ), which is investigating thefts, found out that they were committed by hacker groups from Russia, Eastern Europe, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

    The data of victims needed to access accounts, criminals often received from computers located in public access points - Internet cafes, business centers. Apparently infected machines transmitted keylogged information about keystrokes, giving hackers space for further action. Criminals usually either transferred money from accounts, selling stocks and securities, or used the latter for more sophisticated frauds (for example, they started the artificial “promotion” of controlled low-value stocks with the aim of their subsequent dumping for their own benefit).

    The above manipulations were carried out both with retirement accounts (“401k accounts”) and with online investment and brokerage accounts, which Americans use to increase personal savings. The victims of criminals were clients of well-known banks and brokers: Merill Lynch, Charles Schwab, Vanguard, Ameritrade, Fidelity, T-Trade and Scott Trade.

    ABC, deciding to conduct its own investigation, asked its Russian-speaking intern to “infiltrate” the Moscow hacker community. At one of the online forums, the “Cossack” was offered to buy data for six accounts for $ 350 with a total amount of $ 100 thousand on them. One of the hackers even attached a “free sample” to his product - US citizen account information in the Ameritrade electronic investment system. In a telephone conversation with ABC, this citizen confirmed that the account belonged to him and said that he would immediately change the access passwords.

    Also popular now: