(BLOOMBERG) - Alla Witte's plans for a new career as a computer programmer included helping clients make enough money to see the world. The Russian was in her late 40s with a degree in applied mathematics and an itch to do computer programming. But there was a darker side to her interest in computers. In the six years leading to October 2018, Witte allegedly transformed from amateur developer to a key cog in a cybercrime syndicate known as Trickbot. Witte, now 55, assumed the identity "Max" and started writing illicit code, according to a US federal indictment unsealed on Feb 8, after she was detained in Miami. She is one of seven alleged members of the Trickbot gang facing charges for their role in a global fraud, data theft and ransomware operation with roots in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Trickbot is the name of a cybercrime group, a piece of malicious code and a botnet, a network of hijacked Internet-connected devices used to carry out cyber attacks. The cybercrime group manages the botnet and sells its malware to "affiliates" who then use it to target various victims, according to Malwarebytes, a cyber-research company. Once infected, victims become part of the botnet, a netw...