A 29-year-old man who infected computers around the world with malware and stole roughly $1 million from victims' bank accounts was sentenced to five years and three months in a U.K. prison.
Tomasz Skowron of Worthing, England, received his sentence on Monday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud, fraud, and money laundering offenses. According to a press release issued by the Metropolitan Police Service of Greater London, Skowron was part of an organized gang that used malware to gain unauthorized access to individuals' financial accounts before transferring their funds to accounts under the criminal network's control, often by way of money mules. Customers of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia were among those affected.
Skowron was arrested on Dec. 9, 2014, after investigators were able to link several fraudulent money transfers to his home IP address. He was not convicted of any hacking offenses, although authorities had linked him to two man-in the-middle cyberattacks against U.K. construction companies whose online banking passwords were stolen, resulting in approximately $600,000 in losses.
