Charges have been levied against more than 60 people for a massive banking scam in a crackdown that also saw 11 arrests made in New York City. Perpetuated using the commercialized Zeus malware, hackers based in Eastern Europe have apparently teamed up with money mules entering the U.S. on student visas to siphon the funds out.

These mules would open bank accounts in the United States using fake identities, accepting illicit transfers for a cut of the fee. In all, the accused were suspected of pilfering more than $3 million from American bank accounts; victims include five banks and dozens of individuals and businesses across the country.

More disturbing perhaps was the degree of organization that the crackdown revealed. Noa Bar-Yosef, senior security strategist at Imperva spoke to Dark Reading, describing how the scheme works. "There is a hierarchy with employees that have a distinct role in the scheme--the researcher looking for different ways to infect machines, the botnet farmer operating the bots, the botnet dealer renting the bots, and the actual 'consumer' who monetizes on the virtual goods received by the bot."

It is not known how much of the stolen funds were recovered, though those convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud could see a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Dark Reading
- check out this article at Computerworld
- check out this article at Ars Technica

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