American agents "lucky" in the pursuit of Russian hackers
San Francisco (Reuters) - Two Russians arrested in a case that prosecutors call the biggest online fraud occurring in the United States. They managed to catch them by using a combination of high-tech tools, persistent detective work and happy coincidence.
The propensity of wealthy young Russians to travel provided the authorities with a good opportunity to grab them in the Netherlands last year.
Dmitry Smilyanets, 29, who was allegedly in charge of cash flows, was extradited to the United States to bring an indictment against him, which was made public on Thursday in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, while one of the most wanted hackers on the planet , Vladimir Drinkman, 32, still struggling against his relocation from the Netherlands.
')
Three other suspects remain at large, and the prosecutor’s office took an unusual step by openly naming them, a law enforcement source said, in order to give a slap to the Russian authorities who refuse to cooperate.
People working in this case say that they are confident that Drinkman is one of the key participants in the criminal conspiracy in a credit card fraud case involving Albert Gonzalez from Miami. Gonzalez was arrested in 2008 and is currently serving a 20-year sentence for crimes, including the theft of 130 million credit cards from Heartland Payments Systems.
Drinkman and one of the hackers (still at large in Russia, Alexander Kalinin, 26, from St. Petersburg), were identified only as “Hacker 1” and “Hacker 2” in the main indictment of Gonzales, since then the Secret Service The USA did not yet know their names.
Both were presented to the public for the first time on Thursday, and the indictment just submitted states that they were extraordinary hackers who hacked everything from banks and conglomerates to retail.
Although it took years to get these two names, people familiar with the case reported that it was easier to track Smilyants. This was partly because his intended role was to sell a vast warehouse of credit cards, which brought him into contact with a large number of people. And partly because he had a high status in Russia and in social networks.
cybersport
Smilyanets was widely known as the founder of the Moscow 5 Championship for gaming teams, who traveled around the world with competitions. His pseudonyms for online included such as Dima Smelyy and Dima the Strong.
“He was well known in certain circles,” Smilyants’s lawyer, Bruce Provda, told Reuters. Provda said he intends to fight the indictment "strongly" and carefully consider the circumstances of the extradition of Dmitry.
Agents received information that Smilyanets traveled to Europe last year and that he will travel again with a friend on a trip. When his companion’s name came out as Drinkman, who was one of several suspects in collaboration with González, the agents again gathered information on him and concluded that he was one of the two hackers they were looking for.
“Here is the biggest hacker in the world,” said a man familiar with the case. "We were lucky".
Drinkman posted photos of his trip, left other clues and left his phone on, besides transmitting information about the location, which allowed the agents to make a reasonable assumption about the hotel in which they stayed.
They called the hotel and they were told that these guests were sleeping. The next morning, when they were getting ready to take the sightseeing bus, Dutch detectives met and arrested them.
Drinkman's lawyer did not respond to emails asking for comment on the situation on Thursday evening. The secret service forwarded all questions to the prosecutor's office.
The announcement of the name of Kalinin and other suspects in Russia is unusual and serves as a sign that American officials were unhappy with the cooperation of law enforcement agencies in Russia.
Relations between the two countries regarding hacker cases have been unsatisfactory for most of the past fifteen years, two law enforcement sources said. None of them was authorized to discuss this issue publicly.
“If the Russians are not going to cooperate with us, well, then we will make everyone know about it,” said one of them.
In addition to signals of dissatisfaction with officials from Moscow, we will arrest those who travel and warn those who are still at large, sending a message that the main criminals in Russia should not relax. And it can serve as a deterrent for others, he said.
Report by Joseph Menn; Editing Mohammad Zargham
(c) Thomson Reuters, 2013.
Free translation: efimich.ru
The propensity of wealthy young Russians to travel provided the authorities with a good opportunity to grab them in the Netherlands last year.
Dmitry Smilyanets, 29, who was allegedly in charge of cash flows, was extradited to the United States to bring an indictment against him, which was made public on Thursday in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, while one of the most wanted hackers on the planet , Vladimir Drinkman, 32, still struggling against his relocation from the Netherlands.
')
Three other suspects remain at large, and the prosecutor’s office took an unusual step by openly naming them, a law enforcement source said, in order to give a slap to the Russian authorities who refuse to cooperate.
People working in this case say that they are confident that Drinkman is one of the key participants in the criminal conspiracy in a credit card fraud case involving Albert Gonzalez from Miami. Gonzalez was arrested in 2008 and is currently serving a 20-year sentence for crimes, including the theft of 130 million credit cards from Heartland Payments Systems.
Drinkman and one of the hackers (still at large in Russia, Alexander Kalinin, 26, from St. Petersburg), were identified only as “Hacker 1” and “Hacker 2” in the main indictment of Gonzales, since then the Secret Service The USA did not yet know their names.
Both were presented to the public for the first time on Thursday, and the indictment just submitted states that they were extraordinary hackers who hacked everything from banks and conglomerates to retail.
Although it took years to get these two names, people familiar with the case reported that it was easier to track Smilyants. This was partly because his intended role was to sell a vast warehouse of credit cards, which brought him into contact with a large number of people. And partly because he had a high status in Russia and in social networks.
cybersport
Smilyanets was widely known as the founder of the Moscow 5 Championship for gaming teams, who traveled around the world with competitions. His pseudonyms for online included such as Dima Smelyy and Dima the Strong.
“He was well known in certain circles,” Smilyants’s lawyer, Bruce Provda, told Reuters. Provda said he intends to fight the indictment "strongly" and carefully consider the circumstances of the extradition of Dmitry.
Agents received information that Smilyanets traveled to Europe last year and that he will travel again with a friend on a trip. When his companion’s name came out as Drinkman, who was one of several suspects in collaboration with González, the agents again gathered information on him and concluded that he was one of the two hackers they were looking for.
“Here is the biggest hacker in the world,” said a man familiar with the case. "We were lucky".
Drinkman posted photos of his trip, left other clues and left his phone on, besides transmitting information about the location, which allowed the agents to make a reasonable assumption about the hotel in which they stayed.
They called the hotel and they were told that these guests were sleeping. The next morning, when they were getting ready to take the sightseeing bus, Dutch detectives met and arrested them.
Drinkman's lawyer did not respond to emails asking for comment on the situation on Thursday evening. The secret service forwarded all questions to the prosecutor's office.
The announcement of the name of Kalinin and other suspects in Russia is unusual and serves as a sign that American officials were unhappy with the cooperation of law enforcement agencies in Russia.
Relations between the two countries regarding hacker cases have been unsatisfactory for most of the past fifteen years, two law enforcement sources said. None of them was authorized to discuss this issue publicly.
“If the Russians are not going to cooperate with us, well, then we will make everyone know about it,” said one of them.
In addition to signals of dissatisfaction with officials from Moscow, we will arrest those who travel and warn those who are still at large, sending a message that the main criminals in Russia should not relax. And it can serve as a deterrent for others, he said.
Report by Joseph Menn; Editing Mohammad Zargham
(c) Thomson Reuters, 2013.
Free translation: efimich.ru
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/187992/
All Articles