Kristina Vladimirovna Svechinskaya | |
---|---|
Born | February 16, 1989 |
Occupation | money mule |
Kristina Vladimirovna Svechinskaya ( Russian: Кристина Владимировна Свечинская, born February 16, 1989) is a former Russian money mule hacker. While studying at New York University, in 2010 she was accused of a plot to defraud British and U.S. banks and usage of false passports. According to charges, Svechinskaya used a Zeus Trojan horse to attack thousands of bank accounts and opened at least five accounts in Bank of America and Wachovia, [1] which received $35,000 (£22,000) of stolen money. It is estimated that with nine other people, Svechinskaya had skimmed $3 million in total. [2] The upcoming Russian film Botnet is partially based on Svechinskaya's story. [3]
Fluent in English, Svechinskaya originally studied at Stavropol State University. [4] According to Svechinskaya's mother, after the death of Kristina's father their family was living on a 12,000 ruble (US$400 at the time) salary. In her third year, Kristina chose the Work & Travel program and in the summer of 2010 arrived in Massachusetts, [4] where she started to work in a fast food outlet.
Her earnings were small and she moved to New York and worked as a hacker's money mule. [4] Svechinskaya was offered an 8–10% share of taken money. [5] Her sentence was expected to be announced in June 2011, [6] but Svechinskaya signed a personal recognizance bond [6] and was released under $25,000 bail. [7] In 2016, Svechinskaya made a YouTube presentation of SmartFlash, marketed as secure cloud-based USB flash drive to store unlimited amount of data. [8]
Kristina Vladimirovna Svechinskaya | |
---|---|
Born | February 16, 1989 |
Occupation | money mule |
Kristina Vladimirovna Svechinskaya ( Russian: Кристина Владимировна Свечинская, born February 16, 1989) is a former Russian money mule hacker. While studying at New York University, in 2010 she was accused of a plot to defraud British and U.S. banks and usage of false passports. According to charges, Svechinskaya used a Zeus Trojan horse to attack thousands of bank accounts and opened at least five accounts in Bank of America and Wachovia, [1] which received $35,000 (£22,000) of stolen money. It is estimated that with nine other people, Svechinskaya had skimmed $3 million in total. [2] The upcoming Russian film Botnet is partially based on Svechinskaya's story. [3]
Fluent in English, Svechinskaya originally studied at Stavropol State University. [4] According to Svechinskaya's mother, after the death of Kristina's father their family was living on a 12,000 ruble (US$400 at the time) salary. In her third year, Kristina chose the Work & Travel program and in the summer of 2010 arrived in Massachusetts, [4] where she started to work in a fast food outlet.
Her earnings were small and she moved to New York and worked as a hacker's money mule. [4] Svechinskaya was offered an 8–10% share of taken money. [5] Her sentence was expected to be announced in June 2011, [6] but Svechinskaya signed a personal recognizance bond [6] and was released under $25,000 bail. [7] In 2016, Svechinskaya made a YouTube presentation of SmartFlash, marketed as secure cloud-based USB flash drive to store unlimited amount of data. [8]