Millions of dollars have been stolen from Covid relief benefits by hackers linked to the Chinese government, NBC News reported. A hacking group called APT41 stole at least $20 million in Covid relief benefits that included small business loans and unemployment funds from over a dozen of states, the report said.
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The group is based in Chengdu and the officials told the news outlet that several investigations into pandemic frauds are pointing back to foreign-state hackers. This marks the first known case of cybercrime that hackers linked to China’s government have led to security issues in other countries, the report said.
The stealing of money began in mid-2020 and spanned 2,000 accounts, the report said, adding that more than 40,000 financial transactions took place.
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Roy Dotson, national pandemic fraud recovery coordinator for the Secret Service told NBC News, “It would be crazy to think this group didn’t target all 50 states.”
William Evanina, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said, “Once you are in these systems with intent to promulgate theft of personally identifying information.”
