This is a joint media release between the Australian Federal Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Western Australia Police Force
Two West Australian men have been charged following a joint investigation between the AFP and Western Australia Police Force (WAPF), working in parallel with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), into a sophisticated cybercrime syndicate that allegedly created malicious open-source software to rob thousands of global businesses.
The AFP charged the men yesterday (26 August, 2026) with a combined total of 14 offences after executing search warrants in Perth with WAPF, and the assistance of the FBI.
Police will allege the men were part of a highly organised syndicate involved in large-scale cybercrime offending, including data intrusion, identity crime, and cryptocurrency-based money laundering.
Parallel investigations started in April, 2026, after the AFP and FBI received information from multiple cyber threat assessment companies regarding a syndicate that allegedly inserted malicious code into software available on an open-source repository, which was then unwittingly used by other developers.
This article was aggregated automatically by CyberWire Daily's newsfeed engine. Original reporting: www.afp.gov.au.
