Many of the people on the FBI’s most-wanted cyber list are Russians. While some work for the government and earn regular salaries, others are accused of making a fortune from ransomware attacks and online theft. If they left Russia, they would be arrested, but they seem to have been given freedom at home. In this dilapidated house in this dilapidated city 700 km east of Moscow. There will surely be no trace of a multimillionaire cybercriminal.
But I pushed with an interpreter and telephone operator to get the dark-skinned cat out of the block entrance. When we knocked on one of the doors, a young man answered. And a curious older adult peeked from the kitchen in the corner.
“I’m not telling you where it is, and you shouldn’t be trying to find it. You shouldn’t have come here,” said the young man angrily. Some say tracking wanted cybercriminals in their homeland is risky. “They will have armed guards,” they told me. “You’re going to fall into a ditch somewhere,” warned another. Others said it would be great – “They’re just nerds.”
Maxim Yakubets, Igor Turashev, and seven other people suspected of being from Evil Corp were sanctioned, indicted, or appointed in December 2019.
At a press conference two years ago, the FBI named nine members of the Russian hacker group Evil Corp. And accused Igor Turashev and suspected gang leader Maxim Yakubets of stealing or extorting more than $100 million through hacking 40 different countries. Victims ranged from small businesses to multinational corporations such as Garmin, as well as charities and schools. But, unfortunately, you’re the only one we know.
The US Department of Justice said the men were “cyber bank robbers” who orchestrated ransomware attacks or hacked accounts to steal money.
Maxim Yakubets made the announcement, then only 32 years old, a boy from a poster by Russian hacker Playboy. Footage of the gang, taken from Britain’s National Crime Agency. Shows men driving a bespoke Lamborghini, laughing at wads of cash, and playing with local lions.