Security News > 2021 > May > Member of Russian Gang That Hacked Tax Prep Firms Sentenced to Prison in U.S.
The United States Department of Justice this week announced the sentencing of a Russian national for his role in a group that attempted to obtain $1.5 million in tax refunds from the Department of the Treasury.
According to court documents, between June 2014 and November 2016, Bogdanov and co-conspirators hacked into the computers of private tax preparation firms in the US and stole personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers and dates of birth.
Using the misappropriated information, they then changed the tax return information of their victims so that refunds were sent to debit cards that the fraudsters controlled.
Bogdanov also used the stolen data on the IRS Transcript System website to obtain prior tax filings of victims and then filed new tax returns, to have refunds sent to the attackers' prepaid debit cards.
Using the scheme, Bogdanov and his co-conspirators attempted to steal approximately $1.5 million in tax refunds from the Department of the Treasury.
Bogdanov was sentenced to 60 months in prison and was ordered to pay $476,713 in forfeiture.