|
The FBI, in conjunction with many partners in international
law enforcement, today announced the conclusion of a two-year
undercover operation targeting members of the online “carding” forum
known as Dark Market.
Cyber criminals using this forum represented a virtual transnational criminal
network spanning numerous countries who were involved with the buying and
selling of stolen financial information including credit card data, login
credentials (user names and passwords), as well as equipment used in carrying
out certain financial crimes. At its peak the Dark Market website had over
2,500 registered members.
A primary objective of this operation was to infiltrate the forum, develop
intelligence on its leading members, and in coordination with our U.S.
and international law enforcement partners, systematically identify, locate,
and arrest them over a sustained period. This operation resulted in 56
arrests worldwide. Additionally, $70 million in economic loss was prevented
from the seizure of compromised victim accounts. Separate from these successes,
this operation created new leads and more investigative information to
pursue. These efforts are being followed up by the FBI and international
law enforcement partners.
FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Shawn Henry said, “In today’s
world of rapidly expanding technology, where cyber crimes are perpetrated
instantly from anywhere in the world, law enforcement needs to be flexible
and creative in our efforts to target these criminals. Leads in many of
these investigations take us to the online world of Internet forums, where
criminals go to engage in the business of selling and trading innocent
person’s credit card numbers and other personal information. By joining
forces with our international law enforcement counterparts, we have been,
and will continue to be, successful in arresting those individuals and
dismantling these forums. The arrests this week in the U.K. are a good
demonstration of the coordination taking place today between the FBI, the
Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and other law enforcement agencies
around the globe.”
The FBI conducted this operation with the assistance of multiple domestic
and international law enforcement partners, including the Computer Crime
and Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, United
Kingdom’s Serious Organised Crime Agency, Turkish National Police – KOM
Department, Bundeskriminalamt (German Federal Criminal Police in Wiesbaden),
and the Landeskriminalamt Baden – Wuerrtemberg (State Police of Baden
Wuerrtemberg).
# # #
| Press Releases | FBI
Home Page |
|
