NEW YORK, October 29. /TASS/. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has disclosed the name of the Russian national extradited from the Republic of Korea for his alleged role in a cybercriminal organization, that being Vladimir Dunaev, 38, a resident of Russia’s Yakutsk Region, the DOJ said in a statement on Thursday.
"A Russian national, residing in the Yakutsk region of Russia <...> had his initial appearance in federal court today after his extradition from the Republic of Korea to the Northern District of Ohio to face charges for his alleged role in a transnational, cybercriminal organization. According to court documents, Vladimir Dunaev, 38, was a member of a transnational, cybercriminal organization that deployed a computer banking trojan and ransomware suite of malware known as "Trickbot," the statement said.
"If convicted of all counts, Dunaev faces a maximum penalty of 60 years’ imprisonment," the DOJ noted.
The indictment alleges that beginning in November 2015, and continuing through August 2020, "Dunaev and others stole money, confidential information, and damaged computer systems from unsuspecting victims, including individuals, financial institutions, school districts, utility companies, government entities, and private businesses." "To perpetuate their criminal scheme, the defendants allegedly used a network of co-conspirators and freelance computer programmers, known as the Trickbot Group, to create, deploy, and manage the Trickbot malware, which infected millions of computers and computer systems worldwide. Dunaev is alleged to have been one such co-conspirator, working as a malware developer for the Trickbot Group," the DOJ reported.
According to court documents, the Trickbot malware was designed to capture online banking login credentials and harvest other personal information, including credit card numbers, emails, passwords, dates of birth, social security numbers, and addresses from infected computers through the use of web injects and keystroke logging.
The group was allegedly involved in stealing over $2 mln, according to the Republic of Korea's side. The country’s prosecutor’s office detained the Russian national after it received an official extradition request from the US Department of Justice on May 25. A Seoul court approved the request on September 2, whereas the extradition order was signed by the republic’s justice minister in late September.