Bamberg / Ingolstadt – A 23-year-old hacker is said to have stolen around 1.4 million euros from more than 170 online accounts, and now the investigators want him to be tried. The central office Cybercrime Bavaria (ZCB) announced on Wednesday in Bamberg that the suspect from Essen had been charged with the Ingolstadt regional court.
The man had already been arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia in October 2020 and taken into custody.
The hacker is said to have initially bought access data for the victims’ online banking from other criminals who had previously fished them. There are platforms for this type of trade on the Darknet. He is said to have had the so-called Push-TAN procedure changed over to him at the banks, which is necessary for transfers.
According to the investigators, he usually used specially created e-mail addresses that were similar to the real addresses of the injured party. Then he transferred money – mostly to the accounts of third parties who are said to have acted as money launderer. A significant portion of the booty is said to have been converted into cryptocurrencies.
The investigators had become aware of the hacker through unauthorized access to an account of a Central Franconian bank last June. In that case, he is said to have stolen 52,000 euros in 14 transfers. He is said to have committed more than 170 acts between July 2019 and October 2020.
According to the investigators, the Ingolstadt district court must now decide whether to admit the indictment. Among other things, he is accused of commercial falsification of evidence-relevant data and commercial computer fraud. It is also determined against possible helpers of the 23-year-old.