Minnesota man indicted in cryptojacking scheme resulting in $45,000 in losses to Minnetonka company

It’s a cybercrime in which an unauthorized party uses another’s computing resources to mine cryptocurrency.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 2, 2024 at 12:53AM

A Minnesota man has been indicted for allegedly committing a cryptojacking scheme that resulted in $45,000 in losses to his former employer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday that Joshua P. Armbrust, 44, of Orr is charged with one count of computer fraud in a case investigated by the FBI.

Cryptojacking is a form of cybercrime in which an unauthorized party uses someone else’s computing resources to mine cryptocurrency.

According to court records:

The scheme unfolded from December 2020 to May 2021 after Armbrust resigned in February 2020 from his position at Digital River, a Minnetonka-based global e-commerce and payment processing company.

Armbrust remotely accessed Digital River’s Amazon Web Services account without authorization on numerous occasions, mining Ethereum cryptocurrency and costing the company $45,000 in losses.

The Ethereum was directed into a digital wallet and transferred to two Coinbase accounts registered in Armbrust’s name. He then liquidated the cryptocurrency, totaling more than $7,000, and transferred the money into his Wells Fargo bank account.

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about the writer

Elliot Hughes

Reporter

Elliot Hughes is a general assignment reporter for the Star Tribune.

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