Content

Cybercrime Blotter: Romanian national gets 3 years for bank fraud

What happened? Mircea-Illie Ispasoiu was sentenced on Sept. 23 after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.  Seven other charges were dismissed.

Sentence: Ispasoiu, a Romanian national, was sentenced to three years in prison and must pay restitution of $907,204.

Jurisdiction: The United States District Court District of New Jersey.

Background? Ispasoiu worked as a bank systems administrator for a financial institution in Romania from August 2011 to February 2014 where he hacked into a variety of businesses, primarily banks and other financial services firms, to steal user information, according to NJ.com. According to court documents, dozens of the businesses Ispasoiu attacked were located in the United States. American Express, Bank of America, Chase Bank and Citibank were among those targeted.

Additional court documents noted Ispasoiu used keylogging malware to snatch the victim's login credentials which was then emailed to an account he controlled. He then used the stolen data to incur unauthorized charges and make unauthorized money transfers.

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.