Hacker Sentenced to 6 Years After Posing as FBI to Target Porn Users
 

Damn the Russians hooked this guy in at age 17, gave him malware to distribute and split the profit with him 50/50 and the scam last 18 months.

He spread the malware to over 165,000 PC's and made over $5.2 million

Hacker Sentenced to 6 Years After Posing as FBI to Target Porn Users

A British blackmailer who used fake FBI notices to scam porn site visitors out of more than $5 million has been jailed.

The sentencing of Zain Qaiser from London marks the conclusion of a case against England’s most prolific cyber criminal, who used his programming skills to frighten porn site users into parting with hard cash.

The BBC reported that investigators were able to pin down £700,000 ($916,135) of Qaiser's personal profits. However, in total, the 24-year-old’s criminal network may have made in excess of £4 million.

It took five years following Qaiser’s arrest for police and lawyers to untangle his intricate criminal enterprise, with further delays to the case caused by concerns for the defendant’s mental health.

Starting the scam when he was just 17, Qaiser contacted a Russian controller who provided the ransomware, agreeing to split the proceeds of the planned scam. As the initiative grew, the cyber mastermind extended his network to the U.S. and China, to online criminals who would help him move the vast sums of money rolling in.

Over a period of 18 months, he booked advertising space on a number of the world’s most popular legal porn sites. Contained within the link to the fake ads he provided, however, was malware known as an “Angler” tool.

Clicking on the malicious adverts downloaded software that would search for vulnerabilities and deliver the ransomware. Then a message would appear on the screen of the unsuspecting internet user, claiming to be from law enforcement agencies like the FBI.

A British blackmailer who used fake FBI notices to scam porn site visitors out of more than $5 million has been jailed.

The sentencing of Zain Qaiser from London marks the conclusion of a case against England’s most prolific cyber criminal, who used his programming skills to frighten porn site users into parting with hard cash.

The BBC reported that investigators were able to pin down £700,000 ($916,135) of Qaiser's personal profits. However, in total, the 24-year-old’s criminal network may have made in excess of £4 million.

It took five years following Qaiser’s arrest for police and lawyers to untangle his intricate criminal enterprise, with further delays to the case caused by concerns for the defendant’s mental health.

From the bedroom of his family home in the East London suburb of Barking, the cyber blackmailer used ransomware to hijack unwitting victims’ computers and then extort them for cash to give back control.

Starting the scam when he was just 17, Qaiser contacted a Russian controller who provided the ransomware, agreeing to split the proceeds of the planned scam. As the initiative grew, the cyber mastermind extended his network to the U.S. and China, to online criminals who would help him move the vast sums of money rolling in.

Over a period of 18 months, he booked advertising space on a number of the world’s most popular legal porn sites. Contained within the link to the fake ads he provided, however, was malware known as an “Angler” tool.

Clicking on the malicious adverts downloaded software that would search for vulnerabilities and deliver the ransomware. Then a message would appear on the screen of the unsuspecting internet user, claiming to be from law enforcement agencies like the FBI.

The fake messages would accuse individuals of having broken the law and demand they pay an immediate fine of roughly $200 or face three years in jail. Many users paid the ransom to avoid embarrassment.

Qaiser used the money, partially funneled through Gibraltar and Belize, to fund a lavish lifestyle. He bought a $6,500 Rolex watch, spent $2,600 to stay in an upmarket London hotel, and splashed cash on sex workers, drugs and gambling. In one casino visit, he spent a sum of almost $90,000.

The scam eventually unraveled when advertisers spotted what was happening. Otherwise, no victim of the con, believed to have been downloaded on to 165,000 PCs around the world, ever alerted authorities.

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A British blackmailer who used fake FBI notices to scam porn site visitors out of more than $5 million has been jailed.

The sentencing of Zain Qaiser from London marks the conclusion of a case against England’s most prolific cyber criminal, who used his programming skills to frighten porn site users into parting with hard cash.

The BBC reported that investigators were able to pin down £700,000 ($916,135) of Qaiser's personal profits. However, in total, the 24-year-old’s criminal network may have made in excess of £4 million.


It took five years following Qaiser’s arrest for police and lawyers to untangle his intricate criminal enterprise, with further delays to the case caused by concerns for the defendant’s mental health.

Zain Qaiser
The sentencing of Zain Qaiser from London marks the conclusion of a case against England’s most prolific cyber criminal.
NATIONALCRIMEAGENCY/TWITTER

From the bedroom of his family home in the East London suburb of Barking, the cyber blackmailer used ransomware to hijack unwitting victims’ computers and then extort them for cash to give back control.


Starting the scam when he was just 17, Qaiser contacted a Russian controller who provided the ransomware, agreeing to split the proceeds of the planned scam. As the initiative grew, the cyber mastermind extended his network to the U.S. and China, to online criminals who would help him move the vast sums of money rolling in.

Over a period of 18 months, he booked advertising space on a number of the world’s most popular legal porn sites. Contained within the link to the fake ads he provided, however, was malware known as an “Angler” tool.

Clicking on the malicious adverts downloaded software that would search for vulnerabilities and deliver the ransomware. Then a message would appear on the screen of the unsuspecting internet user, claiming to be from law enforcement agencies like the FBI.


The fake messages would accuse individuals of having broken the law and demand they pay an immediate fine of roughly $200 or face three years in jail. Many users paid the ransom to avoid embarrassment.

Qaiser used the money, partially funneled through Gibraltar and Belize, to fund a lavish lifestyle. He bought a $6,500 Rolex watch, spent $2,600 to stay in an upmarket London hotel, and splashed cash on sex workers, drugs and gambling. In one casino visit, he spent a sum of almost $90,000.

The scam eventually unraveled when advertisers spotted what was happening. Otherwise, no victim of the con, believed to have been downloaded on to 165,000 PCs around the world, ever alerted authorities.

So who's sites was he advertising on and how are people still that stupid to fall for it.

webmasters were posting on board about this a while back

Contain suspicious or unknown software
https://transparencyreport.google.co...ster.com&hl=en

USA innocent of course

An NSA Cyber Weapon Might Be Behind A Massive Global Ransomware Outbreak
It's been a matter of weeks since a shady hacker crew called Shadow Brokers dumped a load of tools believed to belong to the National Security Agency (NSA). It now appears one leaked NSA tool, an exploit of Microsoft Windows called EternalBlue, is being used as one method for rapidly spreading a ransomware variant called WannaCry across the world.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasb.../#63c2ce5de599