Watch Kristina Svechinskaya
New Yorkers among dozens charged in alleged cyber-scheme using 'Zeus Trojan' virus to steal millions
BY Alison Gendar, Melissa Grace and Scott Shifrel
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Thursday, September 30th 2010, 12:32 PM
Among the 37 people charged yesterday for participating in an Eastern Europe–based bank-hacking scheme in which $3 million was siphoned from bank accounts belonging to small businesses and individuals were four New York college students — "sexy Eastern European coeds," according to the Daily News, which is gunning to make one of them, a 21-year-old Kristina Svechinskaya, who appeared in court "in calf-high boots and skin-tight jeans," the next Anna Chapman.
But is Kristina SEXY enough to become a star? As you can see by her picture, she is very attractive, but her name is a mouthful, and as far as we can tell she doesn't have a huge Internet presence. And then there's her crime: According to the feds, Kristina used special software to hack into bank accounts of individuals, skim a little money off of each of them, deposit it into one of five bank accounts she had created for the purposes of laundering said money, then transfer it to the ringleaders of the group. Sexy! However, after all of that, she only stole $35,000, and cried in court. Not sexy. Then again: the name of the software she used? Trojan. Maxim, it's your call.
The eds have taken down a massive Internet fraud scheme that used computer viruses to steal millions from bank accounts and recruited sexy Eastern European coeds as "money mules."More than 80 people have been arrested and charged with opening bank accounts to help overseas hackers to swipe funds from unsuspecting bank customers and businesses.
The ringleaders used a computer virus known as Zeus Trojan to steal PIN numbers and then infiltrate bank accounts.
They hired students visiting America on short work visas to open accounts - often with fake passports - and transfer the money and ship it back to Europe.
"As today's arrests show, the modern, high-tech bank heist does not require a gun, a mask, a note or a getaway car," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
"It requires only the Internet and ingenuity. And it can be accomplished in the blink of an eye, with just a click of the mouse - at a distance of thousands of miles."
Last month, federal agents and NYPD cops began picking up the "money mules," who answered ads in Russian-language newspapers and social networking websites.
Several who were arraigned in federal court Thursday looked young and frightened, a far cry from the sexy glamour shots they posted on websites.
Kristina Svechinskaya, 21, a Russian brunette in calf-high boots and skin-tight jeans, was crying before she was brought before Federal Magistrate Henry Pitman.
"They're just children who at worst were used by people much more sophisticated than they are," said defense lawyer Sarah Baumgartel, who represented another baby-faced suspect, Maxim Miroshnichenko.
Prosecutors scoffed at that, saying the ring members were the first wave of a "gathering threat" that targeted American financial systems and stole $3 million here and more than $9 million overseas.
Watch Kristina Svechinskaya
"The Zeus Trojan allegedly allowed the hackers, from thousands of miles away, to get their hands on other peoples' money—with far less exertion than a safecracker or a bank robber," said the head of the FBI's New York office Janice Fedarcyk. "But their scheme didn't eliminate risk. Like the money mules, many, if not all, will end up behind bars."
Three Americans were released on bond, but all the foreign nationals were held without bail. They face 30 to 50 years on bank fraud, money laundering and other charges. Seventeen suspects are still at large.
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