US sanctions 3 Chinese, 3 Thai entities over Covid related cyber fraud

Three Chinese nationals and three Thailand based entities have been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for being associated with a malicious botnet that enabled users to commit cyber fraud including bomb threats and apply for COVID aid, which resulted in loss of billions of dollars of the US government.

According to the Treasury Department, the 911 S5 botnet service compromised approximately 19 million IP addresses and facilitated the submission of tens of thousands of fraudulent applications related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act programs by its users.