Defendants used eBay to sell goods bought with stolen credit card numbers, shifting money through Internet transfer services. New York prosecutors indicted five Eastern European men on Monday in an extensive credit-card fraud operation that netted the defendants at least US$4 million from some 95,000 stolen card numbers.The indictment caps the third phase of a four-year investigation involving law enforcement agencies in the U.S., the Czech Republic, Greece and Ukraine, according to information released by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.A total of 17 defendants have been indicted, although the last five defendants were only revealed this week due to extradition procedures.Details of the case provide further evidence for the existence of a sophisticated underground economy, with cybercriminals who specialize in specific aspects of fraud in a chain of criminal activity. Hackers steal credit card numbers, sell them to middle men who specialize in converting those accounts into cash and goods using a variety of money-laundering methods. Prosecutors allege the defendants were involved in an organization called the Western Express Cybercrime Group, which stole and then sold credit-card numbers on Internet forums called carding sites, where other criminals can buy tracts of stolen data. The crimes detailed in the indictment cover the period from November 2001 to August 2007.Part of the scam also involved recruiting people to sell items purchased with stolen credit cards via eBay. Some of the defendants would then launder the proceeds through anonymous digital currencies including Egold and Webmoney, prosecutors said. Viatcheslav Vasilyev, 33, of Russia, and Vladimir Kramarenko, 31, have been indicted on charges of enterprise corruption, a felony with a maximum penalty of up to 25 years in prison; scheme to defraud, a felony with a four-year maximum penalty, and grand larceny, money laundering, criminal possession of stolen property and conspiracy.Vasilyev, who went by the nickname “TheViver,” and Kramarenko, known as “Inexwor” and “Envisor,” were both arrested in July 2008 in the Czech Republic and extradited to the U.S. last week.A third defendant, 23-year-old Egor Shevelev of Ukraine, was arrested in May 2008 in Greece. He’s been indicted on similar charges to Vasilyev and Kramarenko, and also charged with attempted criminal possession of stolen property.Two defendants remain at large: Dzimitry Burak, 26, of Belarus, and Oleg Kovelin, 28, of Moldova. They’ve also been indicted on similar charges to Vasilyev and Kramarenko. Related content news Gitlab fixes bug that exploited internal policies to trigger hostile pipelines It was possible for an attacker to run pipelines as an arbitrary user via scheduled security scan policies. By Shweta Sharma Sep 21, 2023 3 mins Vulnerabilities Security feature Key findings from the CISA 2022 Top Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities report CISA’s recommendations for vendors, developers, and end-users promote a more secure software ecosystem. By Chris Hughes Sep 21, 2023 8 mins Zero Trust Threat and Vulnerability Management Security Practices news Insider risks are getting increasingly costly The cost of cybersecurity threats caused by organization insiders rose over the course of 2023, according to a new report from the Ponemon Institute and DTEX Systems. By Jon Gold Sep 20, 2023 3 mins Budget Data and Information Security news US cyber insurance claims spike amid ransomware, funds transfer fraud, BEC attacks Cyber insurance claims frequency increased by 12% in the first half of 2023 while claims severity increased by 42% with an average loss amount of more than $115,000. By Michael Hill Sep 20, 2023 3 mins Insurance Industry Risk Management Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe