Moldovian sentenced for stealing millions using Bugat banking malware

A Moldovian national was sentenced to time served by a federal court for his crime of conspiracy and damaging a computer.

Andrey Ghinkul, also known as, Andrei Ghincul and Smilex, was arrested in Cyprus in August 2015 and extradited to the United States in February 2016. Ghinkul faced up to 108 months in prison, but cut a deal with prosecutors, the details of which were not revealed.

Law enforcement officials said Ghinkul was part of a cyber gang that spread the Bugat malware, also called Cridex and Dridex, to steal banking credentials. Those credentials were then used to illegally conduct fraudulent money transfers that ultimately stole millions of dollars from their victims.

“It is specifically designed to automate the theft of confidential personal and financial information, such as online banking credentials, from infected computers through the use of keystroke logging and web injects,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.