The names of the two Israelis arrested in the major cyber break-in at JPMorgan's computers have been disclosed: Gery Shalon, 40, from Savion, and Ziv Orenstein, 31, from the Sharon area.
According to US reports, the two are suspected of not only stealing the particulars of 76 million bank customers and manipulation of small shares, but also of committing fraud with bitcoin virtual currency, which has become popular over the past year.
The US media reported the names of two Americans arrested by the FBI at their Florida homes: Anthony Murgio and Yuri Lebedev. They are suspected of illegal bitcoin trading on the coin.mix website.
Among other things, they are suspected of money laundering using bitcoin and breaking into the computers of innocent victims and demanding a ransom to release the information locked on the computer.
The affair itself looks like a Hollywood movie: college buddies who studied in Miami a decade ago joined forces in a fraudulent scheme, in which they carried out one of the largest cyber break-ins in history last year, stealing the particulars of 76 million US bank customers, mainly JPMorgan.
According to reports, one of the most prominent suspects in the affair is a Jewish-American who divides his time among Moscow, Tel Aviv, and Palm Beach, Florida, where he owns several apartments.
The arrested men are suspected of using the stolen bank customers' particulars in their manipulation of small shares, and making profits in what is called in the US "pump and dump," meaning that they bought shares, manipulated them and inflated their value, and then sold them at a profit. According to US reports, they led customers to buy shares by sending credible e-mail messages, and used customers' accounts (they apparently had all the means of identification for the customers).
This cyber break-in, which put the financial world on edge last year, was so large and sophisticated that JPMorgan initially accused the Russian government of being behind the break-in.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 22, 2015
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