Sanctions are being imposed on three Chinese nationals and three Thailand-based organisations. The sanctions were imposed because they were associated with a malicious botnet that enabled individuals and organisations to commit cyber fraud, including bomb threats, and apply for COVID relief, which caused the US government to lose billions of dollars.
According to the US Treasury Department, the 911 S5 botnet service targeted approximately 19 million IP addresses and facilitated the submission by its users of tens of thousands of fraudulent applications related to the Coronavirus Relief, Assistance and Economic Security Act programmes.
The botnet enabled users to commit widespread cyber-enabled fraud using compromised victim computers associated with residential IP addresses.
IP addresses compromised by the 911 S5 service were also linked to a series of bomb threats made across the US in July 2022.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control identified three individuals, Yunhe Wang, Jingping Liu, and Yanni Zheng, for activities associated with the malicious botnet linked to the residential proxy service known as 911 S5. OFAC also sanctioned three entities owned or controlled by Yunhe Wang (Spicy Code Company Limited, Tulip Biz Pattaya Group Company Limited and Lily Suites Company Limited).
New sanctions from the USA: 37 Chinese companies added to the list
