Nebraska Cryptojacking Scheme Exploited Cloud Providers and Consent Frameworks for $3.5M Fraud

A Nebraska man has been sentenced to one year in prison for orchestrating a $3.5 million cryptojacking scheme that exploited cloud computing providers and manipulated consent frameworks. The operation mined nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency by abusing free-tier cloud services and bypassing privacy controls through technical deception.

Case Overview and Technical Execution

The defendant, whose name was not disclosed in court documents, systematically abused cloud computing resources from providers like AWS and GitHub to mine cryptocurrency without authorization. Forensic analysis revealed the operation used automated scripts to deploy cryptojacking payloads across multiple platforms, including Heroku and other third-party services¹. The scheme lasted approximately 14 months before detection.

Key technical components included the abuse of cross-domain consent tokens (specifically #BULK_CONSENT_DOMAINS#) to maintain persistence across platforms². The operation also exploited IAB TCF 2.0 frameworks, falsely categorizing mining scripts as “analytics” to bypass user consent checks under the guise of “legitimate interest” processing³.

Consent Framework Exploitation Details

The scheme employed sophisticated methods to manipulate consent mechanisms. Forensic investigators identified:

Domain	Token	Type	Purpose
decrypt.co	BULK_CONSENT_DOMAINS	HTTP Cookie	Cross-domain tracking
btloader.com	IABV2_PURPOSES	HTML Local Storage	Consent fraud
myriad.markets	user-prefs	HTTP Cookie	UI customization (evasion)

According to Department of Justice evidence, the operation used JavaScript to synchronize fraudulent consent across 50+ domains, evading regional privacy laws. The code injected cookie consent across domains using techniques like:

document.cookie = "BULK_CONSENT=true; domain=.btloader.com; expires=Fri, 31 Dec 2030 23:59:59 GMT";

Cloud Provider Abuse and Automation

The scheme heavily relied on automation to scale its operations. Playwright scripts were used to simulate user consent across domains, with code that misrepresented processing purposes:

await page.evaluate(() => {
  window.__tcfapi('setConsent', 2, {
    purposes: { 1: true, 2: false }, // Misrepresented purposes
    vendors: { '5efd1b3b': true }    // Fake vendor ID
  });
});

AWS Lambda’s free tier was abused to deploy mining containers, using techniques like REACT_QUERY_OFFLINE_CACHE for wallet data storage and WALLET_CONNECT_V2_INDEXED_DB for cross-device synchronization¹. These methods allowed the operation to evade initial detection by staying within free-tier usage limits.

Industry Response and Mitigations

Following this case, cloud providers have implemented new security measures. AWS now requires multi-factor authentication for free-tier accounts exceeding compute limits, while GitHub has begun scanning for mining scripts in CI/CD pipelines². The FBI Cyber Division noted in their statement:

“The defendant weaponized privacy frameworks like IAB TCF 2.0 to legitimize theft.”¹

This case highlights the growing trend of abusing legitimate web technologies for fraudulent purposes. Security teams should monitor for unusual consent patterns and implement stricter controls around free-tier cloud services. Regular audits of third-party scripts and consent management implementations can help detect similar schemes.