MOSCOW, May 22 (RAPSI) – Police have arrested twenty individuals suspected of embezzling money from bank accounts using a malware program, Russia’s Interior Ministry announced on its website on Monday.

According to the statement, an organized group obtained unlawful access to smartphones with the use of malicious software and transferred money from the users’ bank accounts to their accounts by undetected SMS-commands.

Alleged hackers have infected over one million devices with the Trojan Horse program. The caused damage is estimated at more than 50 million rubles ($884,000), the Interior Ministry claims.

Police revealed that the criminal group included twenty individuals living in Russia’s Moscow, Ivanovo, Rostov, Chelyabinsk, Yaroslavl regions and Mari El Republic. An alleged gang leader is a 30-year old resident of Ivanovo, the police said.
Four suspects have been placed in detention while sixteen others have been put under travel restrictions.

Police seized computers, hundreds of bank cards and dummy SIM cards during searches in six Russian regions.