WASHINGTON D.C. -A Russian hacker was arrested in Guam this weekend for stealing information from retail sales cash registers and installing malicious software to steal credit cards, officials announced this week.
Roman Valerevich Seleznev, also known as “Track2,” was indicted March 2011 for operating several credit card forum web sites that allegedly distributed stolen credit card information, according to authorities.
“Cyber crooks should take heed: you cannot hide behind distant keyboards. We will bring you to face justice,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan, who leads the Justice Department’s Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Enforcement Subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee.
The U.S. Secret Service described Seleznev as one of the world’s most prolific traffickers of stolen financial information.
“The arrest of Roman Seleznev is yet another example of how the Secret Service continues to successfully combat data theft and financial crimes,” said Robert Kierstead, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service Seattle Field Office. “The Secret Service utilized state-of-the-art investigative techniques to dismantle this criminal network. Our success in this case and other similar investigations is a result of the extraordinary work of our investigators and our close work with our network of law enforcement partners.”
A New York Times story stated that Todd Greenberg, an assistant United States attorney, would not comment on the means by which Mr. Seleznev, a Russian national, was detained in Guam.
However, the Times reported arrests in Russia over computer crimes are rare, even when hackers living in Russia have been outed by outside groups like the Spamhaus Project, a spam-prevention service based in Europe. According to Spamhaus, Russia is the world’s third-biggest source of Internet spam, after the United States and China.
The illegal hacking outlined in the indictment occurred between October 2009, and February 2011.
The indictment alleges the following information:
- Seleznev, , 30, of Vladivostok, created and operated infrastructure to facilitate the theft and sales of credit card data and used servers located all over the world to facilitate the operation.
- This infrastructure included servers that hosted carding forum websites where cybercriminals gathered to sell stolen credit card numbers.
The charges in the indictment include five counts of bank fraud, eight counts of intentionally causing damage to a protected computer, eight counts of obtaining information from a protected computer, one count of possession of fifteen or more unauthorized access devices (stolen credit card numbers), two counts of trafficking in unauthorized access devices and five counts of aggravated identity theft.
Bank Fraud alone is punishable by up to thirty years in prison and a $2 million fine.
Seleznev is also charged in a separate indictment in Nevada with participating in a racketeer influenced corrupt organization or RICO along with other felony crimes.