Ministry of Public Security arrests 9x hacker group attacking hundreds of websites

Information released last night (May 31) by the Ministry of Public Security said that professional units under the ministry had promptly detected and prevented new criminal tricks of some subjects using high technology to seize assets of organizations, individuals and businesses in Vietnam.

By hacking through security holes in websites, the subjects have taken control of the admin of hundreds of websites, stolen information data or illegally penetrated the server systems of a number of businesses operating in the e-wallet service industry, and then conducted buying and selling transactions, appropriating billions of dong.

It is worth mentioning that for websites that cannot be hacked by themselves, the subject in the case hired foreign hackers to scan for website vulnerabilities, attack and take control, so that the subject could use them for the purpose of data appropriation.

The subjects in the case.

Based on collected evidence, the police have determined the scale, nature, methods and tricks of criminal activities, the roles and positions of the subjects, and clarified the identities and backgrounds of the four main subjects in the case, including:

1. Do Tuan Anh, born in 1996, hometown Cam Pha, Quang Ninh.

2. Nguyen Thi Anh, born in 1996, hometown Binh Xuyen, Vinh Phuc.

3. Do Van Phi (Do Tuan Anh's brother) born in 1995; hometown Cam Pha, Quang Ninh.

4. Nguyen Thi Bao Thoa, born in 1996; hometown Cam Pha, Quang Ninh.

On May 15, the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention and Control, in coordination with the Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security and the Hanoi City Police, promptly discovered four subjects in Thai Nguyen province who used high-tech tricks to appropriate assets of businesses providing intermediary payment services and e-wallets.

On May 29, the professional units of the Ministry of Public Security closely coordinated with the Hanoi City Police and Thai Nguyen Province Police to catch the subjects in the act of committing crimes, temporarily detain them, and urgently search their residences.

The search results confiscated a lot of cash, savings books with a total value of over 3 billion VND; 3 motorbikes; 30 ATM cards from various banks, 6 computers, 4 Iphone phones, dozens of Nokia phones with "junk" SIM cards and many objects and documents related to the illegal acts of the subjects.

Illegal attacks on hundreds of websites

During the investigation, the four subjects initially admitted their crimes; in which Do Tuan Anh was the mastermind and leader. Do Tuan Anh confessed that since 2013, he had begun researching and scanning, discovering vulnerabilities in the databases of many companies and enterprises and illegally hacking into hundreds of websites.

After taking control of the admin accounts of the websites, the subjects created fake balances for a number of previously created accounts and used them to buy information on various types of scratch cards.

In the process of consuming stolen scratch cards, the subjects use many "junk" phone numbers to contact scratch card dealers, and the dealers "scrap the cards" to sell them quickly at a discount rate higher than the general market price.

The money will then be transferred by the agents to various bank accounts held by the subjects (these bank accounts are bought by the subjects floating on the market).

To avoid detection by authorities, the subjects used many tricks to conceal their physical identification and withdrew cash at ATMs of many banks in Thai Nguyen province and some neighboring provinces.

For some websites that Do Tuan Anh could not attack himself, he hired foreign hackers to scan for vulnerabilities and attack and take control so that he could use them to steal data from these websites.

From September 2018 to April 2019, the subject attacked the database systems of 5 enterprises, appropriating tens of thousands of phone card and game card data of all kinds with a value of up to nearly 5 billion VND.

Through this, the Ministry of Public Security warns organizations, individuals, and businesses to raise their vigilance, strengthen information security on websites, emails, and electronic devices... establish a multi-step login process, receive early warnings, and not let subjects take advantage of and commit illegal acts.