Bulgarian Hacker Gets 30-Month Jail Term in US

Crime | October 24, 2014, Friday // 10:31
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Hacker Gets 30-Month Jail Term in US

A Bulgarian national was sentenced to 30 months in jail in the US on Thursday for participation in Shadowcrew, a virtual online marketplace for malicious hacking and identity theft.

Aleksi Kolarov, 32, operated the site along with 18 co-conspirators, using it to sell illicit merchandise and services to other members, nj.com said.

According to US federal authorities, the Shadowcrew members were dedicated to computer hacking and the dissemination of stolen credit card, debit card and bank account numbers and fake identification documents.

Kolarov was arrested in 2011 in Paraguay in an unrelated fraud case carrying counterfeit payment cards, electronic devices to re-encode cards and hundreds of thousands of dollars in various currencies. The arrest was made after banks in Paraguay reported suspicious activity involving several foreign debit cards from Italy, Switzerland and Germany.

He served two years in jail in Paraguay before he was extradited to the US last year to face charges in federal court for participation in cybercrime message board. In February 2014, Kolarov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit identity theft and access device fraud in court in Newark.

According to US authorities, Shadowcrew trafficked in at least 1.5 million stolen credit and bank card numbers and caused more than USD 4M in losses to the institutions issuing the cards, cliffviewpilot.com said.

The Shadowcrew website also contained a number of sub-forums where the latest information about hacking tricks, social engineering, credit card fraud, virus development, scams, and phishing could be found.

The US Attorney's office said Shadowcrew was the world’s largest illegal marketplace for hacking and identity theft when dismantled by the Department of Justice and the US Secret Service.

Of 19 charged in the Shadowcrew case, 16 including Kolarovhave pleaded guilty since US authorities stumbled on the cybercrime ring in 2004. Three others are still at large.

 

 

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Tags: Kolarov, Shadocrew, cybercrime, identity theft, computer hacking, fake  identification documents, Paraguay, access device fraud

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