Russian national pleads guilty to being part of $568 million fraud ring
A 33-year-old Russian man has pleaded guilty to being part of a cybercriminal enterprise that caused more than $568 million in losses through identity theft and stolen payment cards, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday.
Sergey Medvedev is accused of being a leader of the Infraud Organization, an online forum that trafficked in stolen financial data, malware “and other contraband,” the department said in a press release. Medvedev, also known as “Stells,” “segmed” and “serjbear,” pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy in federal court in Nevada, U.S. officials said.
Infraud was founded a decade ago by a Ukrainian national who wanted to make it the internet’s top spot for “carding,” or buying things with stolen credit card data, according to the indictment. Infraud members routed interested buyers to the automated sites of members, which offered malware and stolen financial and personal data, according to prosecutors. The organization’s slogan was, “In Fraud We Trust,” prosecutors said.
Infraud was dismantled in 2018 after the Justice Department announced the indictment of 36 of the organization’s affiliates and the arrest of 13 of them. Medvedev was arrested in Thailand and later extradited to the U.S.
Medvedev’s guilty plea is the latest effort by U.S. prosecutors to crack down on cybercrime emanating from Eastern Europe. On Friday, a federal judge sentenced another Russian man, Aleksei Burkov, to nine years in prison for operating two web forums, one that facilitated more than $20 million in credit card fraud.
An attorney for Medvedev did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
You can read the indictment below.
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