JAMES B. COMEY, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that JUJU JIANG, 24, of Flushing, Queens, New York, was arrested on charges of computer fraud for attempting to gain access to the accounts of numerous subscribers of GoToMyPC.com, a computer services company that provides subscribers with remote computer access, and successfully taking control of one of those accounts.

According to the one-count Complaint filed today, JIANG, operating from his home in Flushing, and using a computer program designed to record computer passwords and user names, attempted to gain access to the computer accounts of approximately 15 subscribers of GoToMyPC.

As described in the Complaint, GoToMyPC is a company that offers individuals the ability to remotely access their personal computers from any computer connected to the Internet. According to the Complaint, JIANG obtained these users' passwords and user names by installing computer software for this purpose at a Kinko's located on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. JIANG then used these passwords and usernames in attempts to gain access to those subscribers' personal computers in order to obtain credit card and other information stored on those computers, it was alleged.

As described in the Complaint, JIANG's alleged fraud came to light after a subscriber of GoToMyPC (the "Victim"), who was at home, heard his personal computer ("PC") turn on without any action on the subscriber's part and then observed the cursor of the PC move around the screen and files on the PC being accessed and opened as if by remote control. Afterwards, as alleged in the Complaint, the Victim observed his computer access a website known as www.neteller.com ("Neteller"), an online payment transfer service, and observed an account in his name being opened at Neteller, also without his authorization.

A short time later, the Victim allegedly observed his computer accessing the website for the American Express Corporate card and, using information stored on his computer, saw his computer attempt to access his corporate American Express card account file. According to the Complaint, upon viewing this unauthorized activity, the Victim manually regained control of his PC, terminated the computer session, and contacted officials of Neteller in order to direct them to close the unauthorized Neteller account that had been opened in his name.

According to the Complaint, computer records maintained by GoToMyPC traced the unauthorized intrusion of the Victim's account to JIANG’s home. The Complaint alleged that, upon searching JIANG's Flushing residence, agents observed one of JIANG's computers executing a program known as a "brute force attack," a program frequently used by computer hackers to gain unauthorized access to other persons' computers.

If convicted, JIANG faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Mr. COMEY praised the investigative efforts of the United States Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force. He said the investigation is continuing. Assistant United States Attorney JOSEPH V. DeMARCO is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.


02-281

• More information on: Defendant's Plea
• More information on: Computer Crime
• More information on: Computer Crime Cases

Want to receive news of updates to the cybercrime.gov website? Send a blank message to: cybercrime-subscribe@topica.com and we will add you to our email newsletter list. (Mailing list privacy information)

Go to . . . CCIPS Home Page  || Justice Department Home Page