AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry said Karim Baratov, one of four men indicted by U.S. authorities over a massive Yahoo hack in early 2014, is not a Kazakh citizen.
The U.S. Justice Department said the 22-year-old Baratov has dual Canadian-Kazakh citizenship. However, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry tweeted that this report is not true saying that Baratov was born in Kazakhstan, but lost his Kazakh citizenship in 2011 after he obtained Canadian citizenship.
1/2. Karim #Baratov, named in some media reports as a suspect in the #hacking of #Yahoo's accounts, is not a #Kazakhstan citizen
— MFA Kazakhstan (@MFA_KZ) March 16, 2017
"Baratov filed documents needed to annul his citizenship of #Kazakhstan and the request was approved," the follow-up tweet read.
Baratov was arrested in Canada on March 14 on suspicion of massive hacking against Yahoo. Baratov is charged with working for Dmitry Dokuchaev, a hacker for hire who was pressed into working with Russia’s FSB security service to avoid prosecution for bank-card fraud. The Canadian used fake emails to lure targets to give up sensitive information that allowed him to get passwords, which he then sold to Dokuchaev for $100 each, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.