Charles O. Parks III, nicknamed “CP3O,” is accused of orchestrating a $3.5 million cryptojacking scheme targeting major cloud computing services.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed the indictment on April 15, 2024. If found guilty, he could face up to 50 years in prison.
The Nebraska cryptojacker had a lavish lifestyle funded by fraud.
Parks, from Nebraska, allegedly defrauded two cloud computing service providers out of more than $3.5 million. Additionally, prosecutors say he used stolen processing power to mine nearly $1 million worth of cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Litecoin and Monero.
The charges against Parks include wire fraud, money laundering and illegal currency trafficking. He was arrested in Nebraska on April 13 and is scheduled to appear in court in Omaha on April 16.
Read more: What is Cryptojacking?
“Parks stole millions of dollars worth of computing resources to enrich himself. We will continue to prosecute those who use technology to commit fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.
According to the indictment, Parks operated from January to August 2021. He used multiple aliases and legal entities, including ‘MultiMillionaire LLC’ and ‘CP3O LLC’, to defraud cloud providers in order to obtain massive amounts of computing power without paying for them.
Parks also converted digital currencies through exchanges, NFT marketplaces, and various banking channels to cover his tracks. He is accused of structuring the transactions to avoid federal reporting requirements. Prosecutors said Parks used the illegal proceeds to finance a lavish lifestyle that included a Mercedes-Benz, jewelry and first-class travel.
Cryptojacking itself is the unauthorized use of someone else’s computing resources to mine cryptocurrency. Instead of spending money on cryptocurrency mining hardware, hackers install malware on victims’ devices to mine cryptocurrency without the victim’s consent or knowledge.
By stealing computing resources, cryptojackers gain an unfair advantage over legitimate Bitcoin miners without incurring costly overhead.
Read more: 15 most common cryptocurrency scams to watch out for
According to a 2023 SonicWall report, cryptojacking incidents reached $332.3 million, a 339% increase over the previous period, with losses due to malware and ransomware attacks being significantly higher.
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