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KUALA LUMPUR – The founder and partner of SEA Gamer Mall, a Perak-based digital game store, has been arrested in Malaysia after being indicted by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for his involvement in the group of international piracy APT-41.
They were arrested by a Malaysian police team at 8.45am on Monday (September 14) in the coastal city of Sitiawan, in Perak, following an extradition request from the United States “for alleged money laundering and cybercrime activities. “said a Malaysian police statement on Thursday. (September, 17th).
The extradition request was submitted by the United States on September 3 and approved by the Malaysian Attorney General’s Office in accordance with the Extradition Act 1992 between Malaysia and the United States, according to the police statement.
Police said the men were found to be “selling illegal or unauthorized gaming devices, such as credit. The forensic team has seized evidence and documents related to their business.”
SEA Gamer Mall in a separate statement said the two men have been placed on temporary leave and that the company has been offering authorities full cooperation on the matter.
The Justice Department named the two Malaysians Wong Ong Hua and Ling Yang Ching.
Malaysian Police Chief Abdul Hamid Bador previously told The Straits Times that the arrests in Sitiawan were carried out under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).
He said: “The arrests are at the request of the United States, which uses the MLAT assignment to detect, arrest and extradite the suspects.”
The treaty allows the cooperation and assistance of law enforcement agencies in a criminal investigation or procedure.
“The two Malaysians are suspected of being involved in cyber espionage with the intention of ‘stealing important data belonging to certain American companies’. They will undergo judicial process to be extradited to the United States,” said Tan Sri Abdul Hamid.
The statement from SEA Gamer Mall read: “We have recently been informed of the US allegations against 2 employees of the company. The 2 employees in question are temporarily on leave pending resolution of the matter.”
“As a responsible company serving millions of customers around the world, we are committed to the authorities and have been offering full cooperation and assistance,” the statement added.
“Without compromising the integrity of any ongoing legal proceedings, suffice it to say that the company has never been involved in any illegal activity, as we are a local Malaysian company with hundreds of employees and millions of customers around the world.
“SEA Gamer Mall will continue to take important steps to handle claims. Rest assured that the management of the company has the best interests of each and every customer and we will continue to provide our best services to our customers,” he added.
The US Department of Justice report indicates that Wong, 46, and Ling, 32, were arrested on September 14 through cooperation with local law enforcement authorities and are now facing extradition proceedings, along with with five Chinese citizens.
They were alleged to have been conducting global hacking operations for at least six years to steal identities and video game technology, plant ransomware and spy on Hong Kong activists.
Three of the Chinese suspects were operating from Chengdu 404, a Sichuan-based company that intended to offer network security services for other companies, AFP reported.
They hacked into the computers of hundreds of companies and organizers around the world to collect identities, hijack systems for ransom and remotely use thousands of computers to mine cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, AFP said.
The DOJ, in a second indictment in August, the DOJ charged Wong and Ling with 23 counts of extortion, conspiracy, identity theft, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, money laundering, Abuse Act violations. and Computer Fraud and False Domain Name Registration, The Malaysian Online Star reported.
Wong is the founder and CEO of SEA Gamer Mall, while Ling is listed as a partner and chief product officer, according to the company’s website.
“First, as the core of the APT-41 hacking, the Chinese defendants targeted more than 100 victims worldwide in a variety of industries and sectors that are sadly part of the standard list of targets for Chinese hackers, “Deputy US Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said in a statement.
“These criminal acts were accelerated by a sophisticated technique known as ‘supply chain attack’, in which Chinese hackers compromised software vendors around the world and modified vendor code to install back doors that allowed more attacks against vendor client software.
Second, and as an additional method of making money, several of the Chinese defendants compromised the networks of video game companies around the world (a multi-billion dollar industry) and defrauded them of the game’s resources. .
“Two of the Chinese defendants are accused, with two Malaysian defendants, of selling these resources on the black market through their illicit website.”
Gaming analytics company Newzoo reported that 20.1 million gamers in Malaysia spent 673 million dollars (917 million Singapore dollars) on games in 2019, making it one of the largest gaming markets in Southeast Asia. .
He stated that most gamers spent money on in-game items or virtual goods, the most common being power-ups or additional abilities for an in-game avatar.
SEA Gamer Mall was established in 2007 with offices in China, Thailand and Indonesia.
On its website, the company claimed it has 1.9 million registered users and, in a 2017 news article, Wong was quoted as saying that the majority of the website’s sales came from prepaid recharge cards and virtual items. of online games.
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