Alleged ZeuS Botmaster Arrested For Stealing $100M From US Banks

Trailrunner7 writes "A 24-year-old Algerian man remains in a Thai jail awaiting extradition to the United States, where he is suspected of masterminding more than $100 million in global bank heists using the ZeuS and SpyEye Trojans. Malaysian authorities believe they've apprehended the hacker Hamza Bendelladj, who they say has been jetsetting around the world using millions of dollars stolen online from various banks. He was arrested at a Bangkok airport en route from Malaysia to Egypt. The hacker had developed a considerable reputation as a major operator of ZeuS-powered botnets and bragged about his exploits"

Comments

moral of the story

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't spend money like an brain-dead Arkansas lotto winner if you steal millions of dollars from US victims using malware.

Re:moral of the story

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't spend money like an brain-dead Arkansas lotto winner if you steal millions of dollars from US victims using malware.

What else can he do with it besides spend it? He can't put it in the bank because banks aren't safe any more.

Re:moral of the story

[Zontar The Mindless]

What? Isn't that Obama, Bernanke, Geithner, and the rest of the Legislative branch of the US government? The thing is, only the little guy gets arrested and punished for theft, but if you're a big hedge fund or banker John Corzine type, you get away with murder.

I wouldn't call someone "suspected of masterminding more than $100 million in global bank heists" a "little guy".

BTW, none of those guys you mentioned are accused of running botnets, and none of them work in the Legislative branch, so why are you even bringing them up?

Re:moral of the story

[evil_aaronm]

I think AC was pointing to the fact that, rather than hold the people who caused the financial meltdown and subsequent bailout responsible, the authorities let them walk with their ill-gotten profits from their financial shenanigans. Isn't it up to the authorities to a) prevent these things; and / or b) prosecute them? We prosecute a botnet master who brags about his exploits, but we let walk those white collar criminals that took even more.

Re:moral of the story

[lukeshep]

White Collar season 3 has an episode with this exact plot line http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1942780/ apart from i think it was 125M USD

Re:moral of the story

[PPH]

He could buy some Platinum and start minting coins.

better idea..

[fliptout]

Why not leave him in Thai jail.

Bragging. Always the same....

[gweihir]

These people may have some superior specialized skills, but personality-wise, they are retarded. The same can incidentally be found in a lot of CEOs and high-placed government officials. Seems we promote the scum to the top, and those that cannot get promoted turn to crime instead in order to implement their delusions of grandeur.

Re:Bragging. Always the same....

[whoever57]

There are studies that show that personality disorders are more common in senior executives than the criminally insane:

For our purposes, the most interesting results of the study came from the comparison of the senior business executives to the offenders at Broadmoor. The study showed that three out of the eleven personality disorders were more common in the senior business managers than in the criminal psychiatric patients

Loose Lips Sink Ships

[dav1dc]

"The hacker had developed a considerable reputation as a major operator of ZeuS-powered botnets and bragged about his exploits"

Seems if he had just enjoyed the 100M and kept his mouth shut they might not have figured out who he is...

Old News but some links from local Thai media...

[nickserv]

This story should have run nearly a week ago, he was arrested last Sunday GMT +7.

Here's a story about it from the Bangkok Post that ran on the 7th GMT +7 http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crimes/329622/police-nab-suspect-wanted-for-hacking

Here's another from local media in Thailand. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Hacker-held-pending-extradition-30197522.html

"The lawsuit states the suspect used the "spy eye" software to steal people's financial information through phony Web pages from 217 computer networks worldwide from December 2009 to September 2011. An arrest warrant was issued in the state of Georgia on December 21, 2011. US authorities later called on Thai police to nab him and also requested that he be detained pending extradition."

In the last couple years it seems that Thailand is trying to displace Canada as America's #1 bitch.

As you can see from the photos he's been all smiles from his arrest at the airport to the obligatory publicity photo op Thai police hold when they occasionally do their job and arrest someone.

Put the ketchup bottle down, Mr. Abignale...

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

> "and bragged about his exploits"

Stupid, stupid supervillains.

Re:Different from finance?

[ScentCone]

How is using a bot to farm millions any different than what financial companies do?

When you pay interest, or management fees, or brokerage fees, you're doing it on purpose. You've shopped around, chosen the institution you want to do business with, made the choice to use their services and to pay what it costs. You really don't understand how that differs from someone who steals money by using compromised user accounts to take money against your will and without your knowledge?