Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Police arrest alleged Russian hacker behind huge Android ad scam
Though the exact details of his alleged crimes won't come to light until his extradition to the US -- where he faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years -- a Crime Russia report claims Zhukhov may have been involved in a fake advertising network that Google shut down last month.
The scam (outed in a Buzzfeed exposé) used bots to mimic user behaviour on a network of 125 Android apps connected to front and shell companies in Cyprus, Malta, British Virgin Islands, Croatia, and Bulgaria. This fake traffic was used to con brands out of "hundreds of millions" of ad dollars, according to a "person involved in the scheme." However, Google put the figure at $10 million, while Russian newspaper Kommersant says Zhukhov has been charged with ad fraud of up to $7 million, which took place between September 2014 to 2016. During this time, the hacker reportedly operated a network of 50 servers, renting them out to others, who later used them to inflate video ad views.
(Score: 2) by EETech1 on Saturday November 24 2018, @02:16AM
Meanwhile the 16 or so that that were indicted for spreading money around the last US presidential election will be protected.
Fake a bunch of ad clicks though... Bye Bye sucker...