Chinese Hackers Stole Millions Worth of US COVID Relief Money, Secret Service Says (reuters.com) 28
New submitter CrankyOldGuy writes: Chinese hackers have stolen tens of millions of dollars worth of U.S. COVID relief benefits since 2020, the Secret Service said on Monday. The Secret Service declined to provide any additional details but confirmed a report by NBC News that said the Chinese hacking team that is reportedly responsible is known within the security research community as APT41 or Winnti. APT41 is a prolific cybercriminal group that had conducted a mix of government-backed cyber intrusions and financially motivated data breaches, according to experts.
Several members of the hacking group were indicted in 2019 and 2020 by the U.S. Justice Department for spying on over 100 companies, including software development companies, telecommunications providers, social media firms, and video game developers. "Regrettably, the Chinese Communist Party has chosen a different path of making China safe for cybercriminals so long as they attack computers outside China and steal intellectual property helpful to China," former Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said at the time.
Several members of the hacking group were indicted in 2019 and 2020 by the U.S. Justice Department for spying on over 100 companies, including software development companies, telecommunications providers, social media firms, and video game developers. "Regrettably, the Chinese Communist Party has chosen a different path of making China safe for cybercriminals so long as they attack computers outside China and steal intellectual property helpful to China," former Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said at the time.
NOTHING surprises me (Score:1)
Or ... (Score:5, Funny)
Chinese Hackers Stole Millions Worth of US COVID Relief Money
Maybe they're really sick and actually need(ed) that COVID money.
I mean, jeez, they're coughing so much people are calling them hackers.
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yes... it was the chinese hackers... first they stole all those pallets of cash from taliban relief funds, now covid relief funds. oh the humanity
Priorities (Score:1, Troll)
Tens of millions stolen?
Compared to how much was sent to Ukraine and is unaccounted for this is a drop in the bucket.
If you want to investigate something I'd prioritize that.
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As the saying goes, tens of millions here, tens of millions there, pretty soon you're talking real money.
Waste, fraud and abuse are worth rooting out in proportion to their absolute cost, not their relative cost.
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Compare the Ukraine money to the overall defense budget, which is just as unaccounted for, and it is a drop in the bucket.
If you want to investigate something I'd prioritize that.
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Apples to Uk's (Score:1)
War is messy and Ukr. is understaffed due to being killed by Russia, so I would expect a degree of "leakage".
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It's also a drop in the bucket compared to how much covid relief money went to fraud committed by people/organizations in the US. These Chinese hackers were pathetic slackers compared to US scammers.
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Who didn't? (Score:2)
Standard. Every one of these AmericanRescueTroubledAssetCovidInflationReliefPaycheckProtectionRecovery acts are a absolute field day for fraud and scammers. Why shouldn't the Chinese and everyone else on the planet get a piece of our Banana Republic helicopter funny money cannon?
Let's have a Crypto Recovery Act to re-inflate that squirming mass of copulating tapeworms!
Thank you US Government for making it so easy (Score:2)
Verizon, Visa, Chase, Walmart, etc have serious fraud prevention systems and must comply with GAAP. Why does this not apply to federal taxpayer dollars?
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Why should the Feds have to comply? The Great And The Good are calling the shots in the US federal government; their prerogatives are unimpeachable. Only wingnuts have a problem with any of this.
It's actually not hard to find people arguing that fraud of government programs is a good. It's justice, don't you know. At least half the fuckwits in Congress would agree with that argument.
Print more, bitches. At some point the EBTs are going to quit working and shit will — finally, at long last
More PPP loans scams (Score:5, Insightful)
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Also what about all the other billions given in PPP Loans to politicians and other undeserving parties? Anyone working on those
I'd be interested in this too. Have you got a list of names, addresses, dates and amounts?
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This highlights a [bad] core idea (Score:1)
Government should NEVER be allowed to take money from some people and transfer it to other people.
It does not matter if the government is run by left wingers or right wingers or centrists. It does not matter if the giveaway is to rich corporate bankers or people in poverty. The problem is structural. Government employees will NEVER be as careful with other peoples' money as they would be with their own money - and as ALL of us can attest simply by looking within our own families and groups of friends, avera
Free money (Score:2)
Haha. When you're giving away free money, everyone wants a piece of the action. Don't wanna be scammed? Don't give away free money.