“In May 2016 as a result of the efficient collaboration between the Russian MIA and the Russian FSB, the two agencies performed a unique operation aimed to curb the activity of the hacking group whose members had lived in 17 regions of the country and beginning from 2013 had been stealing money from accounts of customers of Russian financial institutions. Over the period of their activity, the 50 members of the organized group had transferred over 1 billion rubles from bank accounts,” said Russian MIA official representative Irina Volk.

In addition to the illegal intrusion into the bank systems, the malefactors had been involved in breaking critical infrastructure facilities, including at strategic industrial enterprises of the Russian Federation.

Employees of the law enforcement bodies simultaneously carried out searches at thirty four addresses where they found and seized over 90 units of computer hardware, information media and means of communication, nearly 4.5 million rubles, and cold arms.

By the moment, criminal liability has been imposed on 27 organizers and members of the gang. The court has remanded 19 of them into the custody.

The suspects have been charged with crimes stipulated by Parts 1 and 2 Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Part 4 Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In the course of the investigation of that criminal case, by the beginning of 2017 the police identified other members of the organized group involved in the unlawful activity. In connection with the detected facts, on January 25, 2017 policemen detained 9 citizens in five constituent entities of the Russian Federation (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, the Krasnodar Territory, the Tver and Sverdlovsk Regions) on suspicion of hacking attacks. The court has remanded one of them into the custody.

The investigation of the criminal case is ongoing.