Russian national extradited to US for alleged bank fraud scheme

A 36-year-old Russian national has been extradited from Georgia to the United States to face charges in a widespread bank-account takeover fraud scheme that allegedly defrauded two banks of more than $6.3 million, the Justice Department announced Tuesday, as reported by CyberScoop.

Sergei Anatolyevich Filimonov and his alleged co-conspirators operated an extensive scheme starting in November 2023, which involved spoofing bank domains to obtain customer credentials, according to US authorities. These credentials were then used to steal funds from accounts with substantial balances. Authorities stated that Filimonov and his associates collected over 5,000 victim login credentials, including those belonging to employees of companies based in Atlanta and Cumming, Georgia. The group allegedly registered spoofed domains, used sponsored links to direct victims to fraudulent sites, and tricked individuals into revealing additional information to bypass security measures.

Prosecutors detailed that the scheme resulted in attempted unauthorized transfers of nearly $5.58 million from one bank and $735,000 from another. The FBI previously seized a domain used to store harvested credentials, identifying at least 19 U.S. victims and estimating attempted losses around $28 million. Filimonov faces up to 175 years in prison for charges including conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.

Source: CyberScoop