Security News > 2020 > September > Two Russians Charged Over $17M Cryptocurrency Fraud Scheme
The United States Department of Justice on Wednesday unsealed an indictment against two Russian nationals allegedly engaged in cryptocurrency fraud schemes.
The two, Danil Potekhin and Dmitrii Karasavidi, allegedly targeted three cryptocurrency exchanges - two in the United States and one abroad - and their customers to defraud them of at least $16.8 million in virtual currency.
Starting July 2017, as part of one fraud scheme, Potekhin created and controlled at least 13 fake domains targeting one U.S. currency exchange, and stole the credentials of more than 150 customers of the exchange.
Another attack targeting the same U.S.-based digital currency exchange was aimed at manipulating the market through accessing three victim accounts and purchasing large amounts of an inexpensive digital currency known as GAS, thus leading to an increase in demand and price.
The two allegedly engaged in similar schemes targeting customers of another U.S.-based digital currency exchange, as well as those of an exchange based abroad. They allegedly stole digital currency that at the time had a value of more than $11 million.