Two sentenced to seven years in prison for cyber crime
The convicts used part of the stolen funds to buy Bitcoin. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Two individuals have been sentenced to seven years and six months in prison by Tbilisi City Court on charges of money laundering, illegal access to computer systems and theft.
The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office says that the convicts illegally accessed computer systems of 58 individuals between April and June 2020 and stole 73,628 GEL (about 22,000 USD).
The Prosecutor’s Office says that the individuals then transferred the money to Imany Georgia electronic wallet and bought 41,601GEL (12,000 USD) worth of Bitcoin.
Georgian police have detained an Indian citizen for illegally accessing computer systems, extraction and misuse of computer data and theft. The crime is punishable by three to five years in prison.
Police have detained four persons for cyber crime in Tbilisi and Batumi, says the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Detainees illegally used personal information of 13 people to illegally access their internet bank and online gambling accounts and stole 42,000 GEL ($14,756/€13,014) in total.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has stated that on October 28, 2019, the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) Main Center for Special Technologies carried out a ‘widespread, disruptive cyber attack’ against web pages and servers of Georgian governmental agencies, court and media organisations.“The attack caused serious damage to the web pages and servers. The cyberattack aimed to undermine Georgia’s national security, harming the Georgian population, disrupting the functioning of government agencies, as well as various organizations, and stirring commotion in public."
The individuals identified as G.Gh., I.D. and V.M. published photos of vehicles on Myauto.ge web portal with a price lower than the market cost and fraudulently forced the buyers to transfer part of money to their accounts.
Georgia has ranked 55th in the world and 30th in Europe in the Global Cybersecurity Index 2020 (GCI) 2020 amongst 182 countries. The GCI is a composite index produced, analysed and published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to measure the commitment of its member countries to cybersecurity.
The Georgian State Security Service on Friday said it had prevented a cyberattack on the official website of the Administration of the country’s President.