{"id":50471,"date":"2026-09-05T07:04:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T07:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471"},"modified":"2026-09-05T07:04:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T07:04:40","slug":"russian-national-extradited-over-malware-campaign-targeting-80000-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471","title":{"rendered":"Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyhodl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/look-to-file-motions.jpg?resize=1024,600\" class=\"webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A Russian national is facing US charges over a malware scheme that used fake freelance accounts to deliver malicious Excel files to tens of thousands of recipients.<\/p>\n<p>Searzhudin Tamirlanovich Aktulaev faces charges of conspiracy, transmission of a program, information, code, and command to cause damage to a protected computer, and aggravated identity theft, among other offenses, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-ndca\/pr\/russian-national-indicted-exploiting-online-platform-used-freelance-employment-and\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Justice Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The operation allegedly involved creating roughly 255 fake accounts on a freelance employment platform to send emails containing Excel attachments that prompted recipients to enable macros. The macros downloaded either TeamViewer Remote Access Trojan (TVRAT), also known as TeamSpy, or DarkVNC malware that gave operators remote control of infected machines and allowed stolen data to be sent to command-and-control servers.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAccording to the indictment filed June 1, 2021, and unsealed yesterday, Aktulaev, 40 years old, and a national of the Russian Federation, conspired to exploit the online message platform of a well-known freelance employment technology company, located in the Northern District of California, to spread malware to approximately 80,000 of their freelance users between at least June 2016 through November 2017.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A shared document recovered from the scheme\u2019s email account contained e-commerce credentials and personal information belonging to hundreds of victims.<\/p>\n<p>Aktulaev is currently in federal custody following his extradition from Cyprus. He is slated to appear in a district court on October 5th for a status conference before US District Judge Donato.<\/p>\n<p><em><span>Follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheDailyHodl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thedailyhodl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/thedailyhodl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Telegram<\/a><\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<em><span>Don&#8217;t Miss a Beat \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/dailyhodl.com\/join-the-daily-hodl-email-list\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe<\/a> to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox <\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"hideinamp\">\n<div class=\"dianomi_context\" data-dianomi-context-id=\"736\"><\/div>\n<p>&amp;nbsp<\/p>\n<h6>Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any assets including cryptocurrencies, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/dailyhodl.com\/2026\/09\/05\/russian-national-extradited-over-malware-campaign-targeting-80000-users\/\">Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/dailyhodl.com\/\">The Daily Hodl<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Russian national is facing US charges over a malware scheme that used fake freelance accounts to deliver malicious Excel files to tens of thousands of recipients. Searzhudin Tamirlanovich Aktulaev faces charges of conspiracy, transmission of a program, information, code, and command to cause damage to a protected computer, and aggravated identity theft, among other [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users - Cryptomag<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users - Cryptomag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Russian national is facing US charges over a malware scheme that used fake freelance accounts to deliver malicious Excel files to tens of thousands of recipients. Searzhudin Tamirlanovich Aktulaev faces charges of conspiracy, transmission of a program, information, code, and command to cause damage to a protected computer, and aggravated identity theft, among other [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cryptomag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-05T07:04:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dailyhodl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/look-to-file-motions.jpg?resize=1024,600\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Crypto Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cryptomagz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cryptomagz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Crypto Magazine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Crypto Magazine\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040\"},\"headline\":\"Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-05T07:04:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471\"},\"wordCount\":359,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/look-to-file-motions-09sqcu.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471\",\"name\":\"Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users - Cryptomag\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/look-to-file-motions-09sqcu.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-05T07:04:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/look-to-file-motions-09sqcu.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/look-to-file-motions-09sqcu.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=50471#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cryptomag\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040\",\"name\":\"Crypto Magazine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Crypto Magazine\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/cryptomagz\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users - Cryptomag","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users - Cryptomag","og_description":"A Russian national is facing US charges over a malware scheme that used fake freelance accounts to deliver malicious Excel files to tens of thousands of recipients. Searzhudin Tamirlanovich Aktulaev faces charges of conspiracy, transmission of a program, information, code, and command to cause damage to a protected computer, and aggravated identity theft, among other [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471","og_site_name":"Cryptomag","article_published_time":"2026-09-05T07:04:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/dailyhodl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/look-to-file-motions.jpg?resize=1024,600","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Crypto Magazine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cryptomagz","twitter_site":"@cryptomagz","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Crypto Magazine","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471"},"author":{"name":"Crypto Magazine","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/#\/schema\/person\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040"},"headline":"Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users","datePublished":"2026-09-05T07:04:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471"},"wordCount":359,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/wp-content\/uploads\/look-to-file-motions-09sqcu.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471","url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471","name":"Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users - Cryptomag","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/wp-content\/uploads\/look-to-file-motions-09sqcu.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-05T07:04:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/#\/schema\/person\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/wp-content\/uploads\/look-to-file-motions-09sqcu.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/wp-content\/uploads\/look-to-file-motions-09sqcu.jpg","width":1024,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=50471#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Russian National Extradited Over Malware Campaign Targeting 80,000 Users"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/","name":"Cryptomag","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/#\/schema\/person\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040","name":"Crypto Magazine","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Crypto Magazine"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cryptomag.finance","https:\/\/x.com\/cryptomagz"],"url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}