Chinese Citizen Arrested In Singapore On Charges Of Malware Making For Cyber Attacks

Matthew S. Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement at the United States Department of Commerce's Industry Security Bureau, (photo: x @acamstoday)

JAKARTA - The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a Chinese citizen has been arrested in an international operation on charges of fabricating and using malware used in cyberattacks, large-scale fraud, and child exploitation.

According to a report by the Singapore Straits Times on Thursday, May 30, a 35-year-old man named Wang Yunhe was arrested in the city on May 24.

According to a DOJ statement on May 29, Wang and another unnamed party allegedly "made and spread malware to compromise and collect millions of home Windows computers around the world".

According to DOJ, during the period 2018 to July 2022, Wang received 99 million US dollars (Rp1.6 trillion) from the sale of hacked IP addresses in both cryptocurrency and fiat currency.

The attack allowed cybercriminals to bypass financial fraud detection systems and steal "billions of dollars from financial institutions, credit card issuers, and federal lending programs".

According to DOJ's statement, Wang used illegal profits to buy property in the United States, St. Kitts and Nevis, China, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates.

Matthew S. Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement at the United States Department of Commerce's Industry Security Bureau, described the case as a film script.

This operation is a multi-agention effort led by law enforcement in the United States, Singapore, Thailand, and Germany.