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UNITEDSTA~gS
DJ,STRICT
COURT
SOUTHERNDISTRICTOFNEWYORKUNITEPSTATESOFAMERICASEALEDINDICTMENT
-v.-
8211Cr.878
VLADIMIRTSASTSIN,
ANDREYTAAME:,
TIMURGERASSIMENKO,
DMITRIJEGOROV,
VALERIALEKSBJEVi
KONSTANTIN~OLTEV,and
ANTONIV~OV
i
lJe£endants.
~---------------x
COTJN'l'ONE
(ConspiracytoCommi.tWireFraud)
The
Grand
Jury
charges:
OverviewoftheSoheme
1.Fromatleastinorabout2007,uptoandinclUdinginoraboutOctober
:2
01.1,in
the
Southern
Di:strict
ofN'ew
York
and
elsewhere,
Vl,AD!MIR
TSASTSIN!ANlJREiY
'I'AAMEl,TIMORGERASSIM.ENKO,
DMITRIJEGOROV;VALERIALEKSEJBV,KONSTANTINPOLTEV,andANTON
IVANOV,thedefendants(collectively,"thedefendantS
If)
I
and
others
known
andunknown,engag~dinamassive!and
acpb.i
s
t
Lca
t
edschemethat
infectedat
least
four
mi.LLi.oncomputersLocat
ed
in
OVE)r
100
countries
with
malicioussoftware,or
l
'ma,lware.
II
1
Wit.hout;the
1
AttachedasExhibitAisaglossaryofcomputer-relatedterminologyusedinthisIndictment..
 
computerusers/knowledgeorpermission,'themalwaredigitallyhijackedtheinfectedcomput.erstofacilitatethedefendants'
commission"
o.fInternetadvertising
fraud/
asdescribed
be.l.ow,
Victims'computerswere
infected
withthemalwarewhen,amongothermeans,their
computers
visited
certain
websites,or
when
victimsdownloadedcertainsoftwarefromwebsites
including,
butnotlimitedto,sof'twarethatenabledvictimstoviewvideos
online.
2,'The
defendantsand
tbeir
co-con9piratorsoperated
and
controlledcompaniesthatmasqueraded
as
leg:Ltimateparticipantsinthe
Internet
advertisingindustry.Throughthosecompanies,the
defendantsand
theirco-conspiratorsenteredintoagreement~
under
which
theywouldbepaidbased
upon
thenumber-oftimes
thatInternetusers
"clioked!!
onthe
links
for
certain
advertisemsl1-ts
I
orbased
uponth~numberof
times
'chat
cez-t.aa.n
advez-t.Lsemenus
were
displayed
once~tainwebsites,.Ratherthanearnmoneylegitimatelyunder
thoseagreements
I
thede
t
endarrta
and
theirco-conspirators
Lnat.eaddevised
acriminalschemetoinfectmillionsofcomputers(the"infectedcomputers
II)
withma
l.war
ethat~urreptitiouslyredirected
thosecomputers
to
thewebsitesandadvertisements
thatwouldgenerateillicit
advertising
revenueforthe
defendants.
Asdescribedbelow
1
componentsofthisadvertisingfraud
scheme
Lnc.Ludad
what
thisIndictmentreferstoas
(i)
\I,clickhijacking
f
z
aud"
i
and(ii)"advertisingreplacement
fraud""
Moreover
I
in
2
 
orderto
protect
the
scheme
frombeingthwarted,themal
ware
used
:by
the
dgfendantsand
their
co-coonapd.r-at.oxa
was
designed
to
prevent
the
insrtallat10n
o'f
anti-virus
softwareupdates-lea'i{ingthe
TheClickHijack.ingFraud
infectedcomputers,andtheirusers
r
unable
todetect.orstopthe
defendant'smalWare,
andvulnerableto
other
malware.
3.One
componentof
t.he
defendants"
fraud
scheme
involved
click
hijacking.
When
theuserofan
infected
computer
clickedonasearchresultlinkdisplayedthroughaSearchengine
query
I
insteadofbeing
brought
tothe
website
to
whichtheuser
askedtogo,the
malwarecausedthe
computer
to
be
re-routedto
a
differentwebsite
designated
by
thedefendants{soastotriggerpaymentto
thedefendantsunder
one
ormore
advertisingcontracts.
This
clickhijacking
occurred.f;or
clic]cs
on
so-called
"organic'!searchresults
aswellas
clicks
on"l3ponsored
1
links.
2
Examples
ofhowtheclick
hijackingfraud
workedinclude
the
following:ExhibitBisanillustrationofhowtheuserofaninfectedcomputerc=lickedonalinkfortheof.ficialApple-iTune,swebsite,bu.twas
2
\\Organic"
searchresultsarethe
unpaidlinks
thatappear
in
respcnaetoauser!
9
searchquery.
"Sponsored"
linksare,inessence,advertisementsthatappearin
response
toauserissearchquery-oftenatthe
top
ofor
to
therightoforganicsearchresults.
searchenginestypically
receive
money,
onaper-clickbasis,
when
asponsoredlinkisclicked
by
auser.
3
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