Two Russian criminals have been sent down in America after pleading guilty to helping run the largest credit-card hacking scam in US history.Muscovites Vladimir Drinkman, 37, and Dmitriy Smilianets, 34, ran a massive criminal ring that spent months hacking companies to get hold of credit and debit card information. They then sold it online to the highest bidders, who then recouped their investment by ripping off companies and citizens around the world.”Drinkman and Smilianets not only stole over 160 million credit card numbers from credit card processors, banks, retailers, and other corporate victims, they also used their bounty to fuel a robust underground market for hacked information,” said acting assistant attorney general John Cronan on Thursday.
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Rytikov, prosecutors allege, acted as the group’s ISP, supplying internet access that the gang knew would be unlogged and unrecorded. Smilianets handled the sales side, working dark web forums to find buyers for the cards at a cost of $50 per EU card, $10 for American accounts, and $15 for Canadian credit cards.NASDAQ, 7-Eleven, Carrefour, JCP, Hannaford, Heartland, Wet Seal, Commidea, Dexia, JetBlue, Dow Jones, Euronet, Visa Jordan, Global Payment, Diners Singapore and Ingenicard were among the victims of the gang, the Feds claim. The final cost is difficult to estimate but just three of the companies targeted reported losses of over $300m thanks to the gang.
Source: Russians behind bars in US after nicking $300m+ in credit-card hacks • The Register
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