On Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups for interfering with the 2016 U.S. elections.
The charges included creation of false U.S. identities as well as identity theft of six U.S. residents. The charges of identity theft were brought against four Russian nationals.
According to the indictment, the Russian nationals used stolen Social Security numbers, home addresses, and birth dates of the six persons to open bank and PayPal accounts and obtain fake government documents between June 2016 and May 2017.
“This indictment serves as a reminder that people are not always who they appear to be on the Internet,” Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said at a press briefing announcing the indictments.
The Russians allegedly used the stolen identities to open four accounts at an undisclosed U.S. bank and purchased more than a dozen bank account numbers from online sellers.
The stolen information was also allegedly used to evade PayPal security measures.
“We work closely with law enforcement, and did so in this matter, to identify, investigate and stop improper or potentially illegal activity,” PayPal said in a statement.
The Russians are claimed to have used the accounts to pay for the promotion of politically inflammatory social media posts, IRA expenses, political rallies and political props including banners, buttons and flags, in efforts to boost President Trump’s campaign, and are alleged to have been paid $25 to $50 per post from U.S. persons to promote content on IRA-controlled Facebook and Twitter accounts.