Sure, that is true, if you make a bunch of extra assumptions (resides in an applicable country; has a lot of fiat capital already; has a history of trading; has

Sure, that is true, if you make a bunch of extra assumptions (resides in an applicable country; has a lot of fiat capital already; has a history of trading; has all the necessary financial knowledge and capabilities), and if you don't factor in the probabilities of getting caught. On paper, the stock strategy could make more money. In practice, I think it's extremely unlikely it would be the optimal strategy here, or even a decent strategy. The maximum potential reward would be higher, but the expected value would be lower. (Perhaps it'd be negative, even, depending on the probability assigned to imprisonment and asset seizure.) I think the attackers chose pretty much the best possible strategy if their sole goal was maximizing profit and minimizing risk of getting caught. Someone else suggested maybe setting up a fake call for charity donations, which might have worked even better, but overall I think they picked the smartest plan.