Daily fraud update: 3rd April

Russian rapper hit with charges over money laundering

A man from Russia who was living in the US state of Florida has been charged over claims that he was involved in organised cybercrime.

Maksim Boiko, who is 29 years old and works as a rapper, has been charged by the US Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh with claims that he conspired to win over money laundering.

He is accused of being associated with QQAAZZ, which is a cybercrime group.

As a rapper, Boiko is known as “PLINOFFICIAL”.

A series of posts which he shared on the social networking site Twitter have now been picked up by the press in the aftermath of the legal moves.

“God bless America! Especially Florida!” he wrote at one stage.

In what could be interpreted as a sign of things to come, he also commented on his feelings about the police.

“Only in America do I feel myself 100% free and safe… But by habit all the same I tense up at the sight of cops. They say that will pass with time”, he said.

This tweet was originally written in Russian.

According to official documents from authorities in the US, the rapper came into the country in January of this year.

He brought a significant amount of US dollars into the country, which he ascribed to legitimate sources.

“Maksim Boiko aka Maxim Boyko aka gangass is a 29-year-old Russian National who entered the United States via Miami, Florida with his wife on January 19, 2020”, court documents read.

“Because he entered the country with $20,000 in US currency, Boiko was interviewed by the US Customs and Border Protection. In the interview, Boiko stated that his income came from investments in Bitcoin and rental properties in Russia.”

However, the authorities are understood to have later traced some of Boiko’s activities via his Instagram page – leading to the charges of conspiring to commit money laundering.

AT&T hits back in SIM swap case

A major US telecoms provider has revealed that it intends to plead not guilty in a court case related to SIM swapping.

AT&T said that it would not take responsibility for damages sought by Michael Terpin, a crypto investor whose mobile phone was hacked.

Terpin was defrauded during the incident, and lost millions of US dollars’ worth of crypto value.

During a SIM swap scam, a mobile phone number is stolen in order to impersonate its owner.

It is often by someone with administrator access over a mobile phone network.

Terpin claims that AT&T failed to do enough to prevent the incident, but the firm has now hit back.

“Mr. Terpin ignores the undisputed fact that AT&T disclosed to him that it could not guarantee that third parties would not take unauthorized actions that would disclose his personal information…” it said.

“Mr. Terpin’s deceit and misrepresentation claims seek to punish AT&T not for concealing or misrepresenting material facts, but simply for failing to provide further specifics on how Mr. Terpin’s information could be stolen”, it added.

Chris Lee

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