US Charges Dozens In Massive Cyberfraud Ring
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — The U.S. Justice Department says it has charged 36 people for their alleged involvement in running a global cybercrime service responsible for more than $530 million of losses to consumers, businesses, and financial institutions.
In a statement released on February 7, the Justice Department said federal and international law enforcement authorities arrested 13 defendants from the United States and six other countries — Australia, Britain, France, Italy, Kosovo, and Serbia.
They included Svyatoslav Bondarenko, a 34-year-old Ukrainian accused of having created the Internet-based cybercriminal enterprise known as the Infraud Organization in October 2010.
Operating under the slogan “In Fraud We Trust,” members of the Infraud Organization used an online forum to purchase, sell, and disseminate stolen identities, compromised debit and credit cards, and financial and banking information, the statement said.
“Today’s indictment and arrests mark one of the largest cyberfraud enterprise prosecutions ever undertaken by the Department of Justice,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan.
“Infraud operated like a business to facilitate cyberfraud on a global scale,” he also said, adding that its members intended to cause losses estimated at more than $2.2 billion.
Over the course of Infraud’s seven-year history, Infraud’s nearly 11,000 members are believed to have targeted more than 4.3 million credit cards, debit cards, and bank accounts around the world.
The suspects face charges that include identity theft, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
