Bikramjit Ahluwalia, a 39-year-old dual citizen of the UK and the United Arab Emirates, was extradited from Spain to the US to face charges related to his alleged involvement in a large-scale “tech support fraud scheme.” Ahluwalia, aka “Biku,” “Internetteam5000,” “Don Bonsa,” and “Bobby,” is charged alongside co-defendant Andrew Brolese with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to damage a protected computer, and wire fraud.

According to the indictment, Ahluwalia and Brolese operated a tech company registered in Seychelles from April 2016 to March 2021. The firm generated customer traffic for overseas call centers, which were part of a scam that involved the use of malicious pop-up ads. The ads made it appear as though victims’ computers had critical issues, such as fatal system errors or malware infections, prompting the victims to call a number provided in the pop-up.

Many of the victims, particularly older individuals aged 55 and above, were then misled by call center employees who falsely diagnosed their computer problems and pressured them into purchasing unnecessary and costly technical support services. The operation is said to have generated over $31.2 million in illicit payments.

The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Additionally, the money laundering conspiracy charge could result in up to 20 years in prison, while the conspiracy to damage a protected computer charge could lead to another five years behind bars.

Law enforcement op takes down Garantex cryptocurrency exchange used by cybercriminals

A major international operation has dismantled Garantex, a cryptocurrency exchange, which had previously been associated with enabling transactions for illicit entities, including Dark Web markets like Hydra and ransomware groups such as Conti.

As part of the operation, carried out with German and Finnish law enforcement, key Garantex domains and servers were seized. The exchange, which processed over $96 billion in transactions since 2019, was used by transnational criminal organizations, including terrorist groups, to launder money.

Two individuals, Aleksej Besciokov and Aleksandr Mira Serda, were indicted for their roles in Garantex’s operations. Besciokov, a Lithuanian technical administrator, and Serda, a Russian co-founder, face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, violating US sanctions, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Besciokov was arrested while vacationing with his family on India's southern coast.

Law enforcement seized $26 million and obtained databases related to Garantex’s customers. Besciokov and Serda face up to 20 years in prison for money laundering charges, with additional penalties for violations of US sanctions.

Former software dev faces up to 10 years behind bars for sabotaging employer’s systems

Davis Lu, a former software developer at Eaton Corporation, was convicted for intentionally sabotaging the company’s computer systems after his demotion in 2018. Lu, who worked at the power management company from November 2007 until October 2019, was found guilty of damaging the company’s network infrastructure and causing significant operational disruptions.

The incident occurred following a corporate restructuring that resulted in Lu being demoted. In retaliation, Lu developed and deployed custom malware that wreaked havoc on Eaton’s systems. According to court documents, Lu specifically created malware designed to run in an “infinite loop,” which overloaded a production server and caused it to crash. The malware repeatedly generated Java threads that failed to terminate properly, consuming the server’s resources and preventing users from logging in.

Furthermore, Lu introduced a “kill switch” mechanism, which was programmed to lock out all users in the company’s network if his personal account was disabled. The kill switch, named IsDLEnabledinAD (short for "Is Davis Lu Enabled in Active Directory"), was triggered upon his termination on September 9, 2019. The activation of the kill switch locked out thousands of employees, disrupting access to critical systems and crippling the company’s network.

Lu’s actions caused widespread disruption, as thousands of employees lost access to essential systems, affecting Eaton's operations across various industries. The jury convicted Lu of causing intentional damage to protected computers, a crime that could result in a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. A sentencing date for Lu has not yet been set.

Fraudster gets five years in prison for large-scale phone scams

Nooruddin Bhai Nasruddin, a 52-year-old Indian man, was sentenced in the US to five years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for his involvement in a wire fraud conspiracy. Nasruddin was also ordered to pay over $104,000 in restitution to the victims of his scam.

According to court documents, Nasruddin participated in a fraudulent scheme where he and co-conspirators called victims, informing them that their bank accounts and/or social security numbers had been compromised. The callers instructed the victims to withdraw cash and provide it to an alleged “federal agent,” who was actually Nasruddin. The victims were given a special code to provide to Nasruddin, who was posing as the agent collecting the money for safekeeping.

The fraud scheme unfolded in multiple incidents throughout 2024. In one case, a victim was contacted by a co-conspirator claiming that Ticketmaster had suffered a data breach, and the victim’s account had been compromised. The fraudster told the victim to deposit money into a Bitcoin machine, which the victim was led to believe was controlled by the government.

In reality, the money was being funneled to the scammers. Following this, the victim was instructed to withdraw the funds from their bank account and deliver the cash, along with the special code, to Nasruddin, who showed up pretending to be a federal agent.

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LabHost user sentenced after stealing $35K in a phishing attack

A 21-year-old man from Melbourne was sentenced after being found guilty of defrauding two victims out of over $34,000 as part of a phishing campaign involving the international cybercrime platform LabHost dismantled in April 2024. LabHost allowed users to replicate trusted brand websites to steal personal and financial information.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation, which was part of a global effort to dismantle LabHost, led to the arrest of the man and the shutdown of over 200 criminal servers.

The Melbourne man obtained the personal details of 11 victims through phishing and used the data from two of them to steal nearly $35,000. The man pleaded guilty to six charges and was sentenced to pay compensation, serve 200 hours of community service, and complete three months of imprisonment under a good behavior order.

In other news, Indian police have arrested 12 individuals for distributing nearly 100,000 pre-activated SIM cards using stolen KYC data and biometric information. Authorities suspect that many of these SIM cards are being exploited for illegal activities such as fraud and extortion.