Russian nationals stole the identities of six people in the United States to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, the Justice Department alleged Friday.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has brought charges of aggravated identity theft against four Russian nationals and the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian cyber influence group. They are among the 13 nationals and three groups indicted for conspiracy to alter the U.S. election.
The Russian nationals used the stolen Social Security numbers, home addresses and birth dates of six U.S persons to open bank and PayPal accounts and obtain fake government documents between June 2016 and May 2017, the indictment alleges.
The Russians allegedly opened four accounts at one undisclosed U.S. bank with the stolen identities of four U.S. persons. They also purchased from online sellers more than a dozen bank account numbers spanning five other U.S. banks. The stolen account information was allegedly used to evade PayPal security measures.
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The Russians were also allegedly paid $25 to $50 per post from U.S. persons who wanted to promote content on IRA-controlled Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The special counsel also announced on Friday that Richard Pinedo of California pleaded guilty to wire fraud for selling bank account numbers to customers that included foreign nationals. The plea does not make a specific reference to selling the account numbers to Russian nationals.
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GOP senator: Mueller indictments in Russia probe should "be a wakeup call to Washington" https://t.co/nP2OSmGPDL pic.twitter.com/n9ZR327EOl
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