Argentina teen hacker arrested for stealing $50,000 a month

Police in Argentina have arrested a 19 year old man who has been accused of leading a gang of hackers. They targeted international money transfer and gambling websites.

He has been nicknamed the ‘superhacker'. Police claim he was raking in around $50,000 (£31,500) a month from his bedroom in Buenos Aires. Just before he was arrested, the police shut down power to his entire neighbourhood, so he couldn't start deleting sensitive data.

Police say it took them a year to close in on his location. The 19 year old lived with his father, who was a computer expert.

When they broke into the house, they found high grade computers in his bedroom.

The teenager used a series of malware attacks to build up a network of thousands of ‘zombie' computers which could divert money from accounts, without a trace.

The 19 year old hacker is accused of three crimes, and if he is found guilty of them all then he would be spending more than 10 years in jail.

Kitguru says: We can imagine security firms are already lining up to hire the kid in the future.

Become a Patron!