Panda-peddlers cuffed for chess gambling gambit

Two Chinese virus writers jailed in 2007 for spreading the info-stealing Panda (Fujacks) malware have been nabbed again after setting up an illegal online gambling site on their release from prison.

After getting out of the slammer, Zhang Shun and Li Jun decided to go straight and launch an online gaming company, however things didn’t work out as planned and users stayed away from their chess games in their droves.

At that point Li and Zhang decided to go for broke, and set up the Gold Ingot Chess gambling platform which began to make them millions of renminbi, according to IDG (via TechWeb).

Gambling is illegal in mainland China and when the police launched one of their periodic crackdowns in 2012, Li and Zhang abandoned ship, destroying incriminating equipment as they left.

However, they weren’t quick enough and the cops swooped on the two, along with 17 others, last January.Up to 10 years in the slammer now awaits.

The Fujacks worm made headlines back in 2007 after infecting an estimated one million PCs in China, making Li 100,000 yuan (£10,380) in the process.

The worm got its alternative name because it would turn icons of any infected programs into an image of a panda burning three sticks of incense, while in the background covertly stealing user online game credentials.

After getting out of jail Li tried to make amends for sullying the image of one of China’s most revered animals by apparently donating 50,000 yuan to a Panda breeding centre. ®