China-based hacker group APT41 stole US$20 million COVID-19 relief fund: Report

China-based hackers stole at least $20 million (about Rs. 165 crore) in US Covid relief benefits, including unemployment insurance funds and loans from the Administration Small Business Administration, NBC news reported citing the country’s Secret Service. The hackers linked to the Chinese government come from a Chengdu-based group known as APT41. The report said other federal investigations into pandemic fraud also appear to point to hackers linked to foreign states.

“It’s crazy to think that this group isn’t targeting all 50 states,” said Roy Dotson, the Secret Service’s national pandemic fraud recovery coordinator. told NBC.

The Secret Service declined to confirm the scope of other investigations.

They say there are more than 1,000 ongoing investigations involving transnational and domestic criminals defrauding public welfare programs, and APT41 is “a notable factor,” according to NBC. news.

In recent months, the US has seen an increase in espionage cases originating in China.

Last month, in three separate cases, the US government charged 13 individuals, including members of China’s security and intelligence apparatus and their agents, with alleged attempts to influence illegally in the United States for the benefit of their government.

“As these cases demonstrate, the Chinese government has sought to interfere with the rights and liberties of individuals in the United States and undermine our judicial system to protect those rights. failed,” said US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. as quoted in the Justice Department press release.

“The Department of Justice will not tolerate any attempt by any foreign power to undermine the Rule of Law on which our democracy rests. We will continue to fiercely defend our rights. guaranteed to everyone in our country, and we will protect the integrity of our institutions,” added Garland.

Seven Chinese nationals have been charged – two of whom were arrested on October 20 in New York – for participating in a scheme to induce the forcible repatriation of a resident PRC citizen. United States.

The defendants allegedly conducted surveillance and participated in a campaign to harass and coerce a US resident to return to Beijing as part of an international outlaw repatriation effort known as “” Operation Fox Hunt”.