Russian 'bad actors' indicted for fraud, involves Findlay victim

CLEVELAND — The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio is asking Ohio residents for information regarding three Russian nationals for their roles in cyber crimes. According to a Tuesday announcement about the unsealing of documents, the alleged crimes, perpetrated by Alexander Alexandrovich Volosovik, 43, of St. Petersburg, Russia, Kirill Andreevich Zatolokin, 34, of St. Petersburg, Russia, and Yulia Vladimirovna Pankova, 29, of St. Petersburg, Russia, affected victims in 21 states and other countries and sustained losses are said to be in the tens of millions of dollars. A December 2024 indictment notes at least one victim was located in Findlay, with 43 other victims located around the world. All three defendants were indicted by a grand jury on charges of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Allegations in court documents say Media Land LLC., owned by Volosovik and M.L. Cloud, owned by Pankova, provided infrastructure to conduct criminal activity. "Media Land has enabled malicious activity causing tens of millions in losses and impacting victims across 21 states and multiple countries," Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI Cyber Division said. "This is another step in our broader campaign to shrink the space in which these actors can operate, forcing them to work harder, take greater risks and lose the anonymity they depend on." Josh DelManzo, Cleveland Special Agent in Charge, reminds residents to be mindful when interacting online can be dangerous. "Bad actors," he said, will hack, attack, sell and share information for greed, gain and profit. The announcement said other victims were located in California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, as well as abroad in Australia, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and the United Kingdom. The National Police of the Netherlands, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency, the United Kingdom's Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Federal Police assisted in the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Rewards for Justice through its Tor-based tips-reporting channel: he5dybnt7sr6cm32xt77pazmtm65fl. Those with actionable information could receive up to $10 million as a reward.