The United States has arrested YunHe Wang this week, a 35-year-old Chinese citizen who is accused of being one of the masterminds behind a massive botnet that facilitated cyberattacks and fraud worldwide. Wang allegedly helped run this international network, known as 911 S5, which infected over 19 million IP addresses in nearly 200 countries through VPN programs like MaskVPN and DewVPN.
According to the United States Department of Justice, after distributing the malware, Wang operated the botnet and sold access to compromised IP addresses to third parties. His clients, taking advantage of the proxy addresses, committed all kinds of crimes, including “cyberattacks, large-scale fraud, child exploitation, harassment, bomb threats, and violations of export regulations,” according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The United States worked with several international partners to dismantle the operation. Matthew S. Axelrod, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, highlighted that the network sold access “to millions of computers infected with malware worldwide”, allowing criminals to steal billions of dollars and commit other serious crimes.
The operation generated illicit profits estimated at 100 million dollars, allegedly used to purchase luxury cars, watches, and real estate properties. Among the crimes committed with the compromised computers is the scam of pandemic victim assistance programs, with around 560,000 fraudulent insurance claims resulting in over 5.9 billion dollars in fraudulent losses.
The United States Department of the Treasury has announced sanctions against Wang and two other Chinese citizens, prohibiting transactions with them or their designated organizations. Wang faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison if convicted of all charges, including substantive computer fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
