Three natives of India have been indicted for hacking and severely affecting online brokerage firms by various methods. Jaisankar Marimuthu, Chockalingam Ramanathan, and Thirugnanam Ramanathan have been accused of playing a fraudulent scheme online, which has led to substantial losses to firms.
There has been a 23-count indictment, which includes “one count of conspiracy for the former two defendants each, eight counts of computer fraud, six counts of wire fraud, two counts of securities fraud, and six counts of aggravated identity theft. The third defendant has been charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts of computer fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.” (Hackers from India, 2007)
This has been the first case ever to be filed against an online intrusion scheme, in the United States. The hackers have collectively impinged 60 customers and nine brokerage firms in the USA and other places. Amongst these, one of them has suffered a loss of approximately $2 million. The US officials have filed petitions against these online hackers in Nebraska, after a grand jury was seated to discuss the case issues. This incursion can affect millions of others throughout the world, as it would not be easily known as to who the brokerage companies are actually dealing with, the real clients, or the hackers. Thus serious action has to be taken against such intruders, who can victimize a large number of investors and brokerage firms all over the world.
The Assistant Attorney General Fisher has pledged to take action against such people who pose risks to others and has shown appreciation to those investigators and prosecutors who do the same, to eliminate the sources of such acts from the roots.
The operations of these crimes were being carried out from Thailand and India. The personal accounts of the defendants were used to purchase shares of stocks, following which they hacked into other people’s accounts and made good use of their passwords and usernames. New accounts were made by the hackers, by the help of which they made many purchases of the same stocks. This was done in order to make the market prices rise high, then the hackers would sell their shares for a large amount of profit, after the share prices were seen to be inflated.
Several instances of their online hacking were placed before the jury. The methods employed to carry out these activities were sophisticated and complicated, though basically it is seen to be just a fraud case. But such cases affect individual victims as well as financial institutions and create lack of confidence in the international market. Large amounts of monetary losses may be faced with, and mutual trust is diminished due to such acts.
The international law enforcement agencies are working hard to eliminate any fraudulent activities that may affect America’s economy. Marimuthu was arrested in Hong Kong on being charged for computer fraud, Thirugnanam was also caught in January 2007 on the basis of a provisional arrest warrant from the US. The FBI is looking into the case too, which could imprison these defendants for an average of 15-20 years.
The issue is that all the tricks they put into action were homed in India, and the prosecution is taking place in the United States. Thus the defendants have not been put into prison right away, but investigations are still being carried on. Prosecution can take place in the States because the investors over there were being attacked and global corruption was seen to be taking place.
Reference
Hackers from India Indicted for Online Brokerage Intrusion Scheme that Victimized Customers and Brokerage Firms (2007) “Department of Justice”. Web.