Island View Casino in Gulfport, Mississippi was targeted by a
transnational cybercrime network that attempted to steal at least $100 million from victims around the world, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal authorities said they dismantled the criminal network that attempted to install viruses and gain access to personal banking accounts from tens of thousands of victims in the U.S. and Europe.
The 54-page indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Western Pennsylvania, where several of the victims live, doesn’t call out Island View. However, it states the casino is in Gulfport, where and Island View is the only casino.
The indictment says the criminals gained access through a phishing email sent to a casino employee. They were able to install a type of malware called GozNye into the casino employee’s personal account and obtain user names and passwords to get into the victim’s bank account.
The attack occurred around April 21, 2016, when the suspects accessed the victim’s account at People’s Bank and attempted to steal $197,300 through four electronic fund transfers, court records showed. The suspect made two successful electronic transfers totaling $185,00 from the victim’s account.
The defendants include five Russian nationals and residents of Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria who used the GozNym malware to find victims’ online bank account information to steal and launder money. U. S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said, “International law enforcement has recognized that the only way to truly disrupt and defeat transnational, anonymized networks is to do so in partnership. The collaborative and simultaneous prosecution of the members of the GozNym criminal conspiracy in four countries represents a paradigm shift in how we investigate and prosecute cybercrime.”
The accused face federal charges of conspiracy to commit computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
