FBI announces it has dismantled global network of hacked computers used in major fraud scheme

The FBI and European law enforcement agencies dismantled a massive network of hacked computers that had been used to defraud victims of hundreds of millions of dollars, agencies announced Tuesday.

The Justice Department seized over $8 million in cryptocurrency from the hackers and removed their malicious code from an unspecified number of infected computers in the US and around the world, according to the announcement, which said around 200,000 were infected in the US and 700,000 globally.

It’s a blow to a hacking tool known as Qakbot that Russian-speaking ransomware gangs had used to cause “significant harm” to health care providers and government agencies around the world, the Justice Department said. The department said law enforcement agencies in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom helped with the takedown.

The State Department also announced a reward of up to $10 million for information on the people behind the malicious software.

Read more: CNN