A 35-year-old Chinese man has been arrested in Singapore in connection with a global cybercriminal network that defrauded the US government of billions of dollars. The man, YunHe Wang, is accused of helping assemble a botnet, a network of infected computers, that was used for various criminal activities including bomb threats, child exploitation materials, and financial fraud.
The botnet was also used to submit fake applications for federal relief during the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in losses of approximately $5.9 billion. Authorities seized luxury assets worth $4 million, including watches, sports cars like Ferrari and Rolls-Royce, and $30 million in real estate properties across different regions.
Wang allegedly used the money earned from renting the botnet to purchase properties in East Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and the US. The US government is seeking his extradition to the US for prosecution, and investigations into other potential suspects are ongoing.
Wang and his associates used virtual private networking (VPN) to spread their malicious code, infecting millions of IP addresses worldwide. The criminal activities are part of a larger trend of opportunistic fraud that has surged since the emergence of Covid-19, with fraudsters exploiting federal economic stimulus packages like the CARES Act.
The Secret Service has appointed a National Pandemic Fraud Recovery Coordinator to address the issue of fraud related to Covid-19 relief funds. The IRS has also reported investigating tax and money laundering cases related to Covid-19 fraud, with potential losses estimated at around $9 billion.
