Threat operation Mogilevich has confessed that its claims of compromising Epic Games and other high-profile entities were false days after it was not able to provide information regarding the 189GB of data purportedly stolen from the video game software firm, which also denied any compromise of its systems, Hot Hardware reports.
High-profile organizations have been leveraged by Mogilevich to facilitate a fraudulent scheme that would lure others into paying for nonexistent stolen information, with the operation obtaining $85,000 from a supposed buyer of the exfiltrated data, according to a Mogilevich spokesperson. "In reality, we are not a ransomware-as-a-service, but professional fraudsters... This was done to illustrate the process of our scam. We don't think of ourselves as hackers but rather as criminal geniuses, if you can call us that," said the spokesperson. Mogilevich's admission of being a sham hacking operation comes amid the takedown of its leak site.
