A Georgia man agreed to plead guilty to federal racketeering charges associated with the so-called Carder.su criminal enterprise that trafficked and manufactured stolen and counterfeit credit cards resulting in $50 million in losses globally.
The defendant, Cameron Harrison (also known as "Kilobit"), was not offered a plea deal but faces years behind bars when sentenced later this year in a Las Vegas federal court, according to court records unveiled Wednesday.
As many as 55 members of the Carder.su group have been charged in the nation's first case in which old-school racketeering laws were invoked against a cybercrime group. Eight others have pleaded guilty. Trial awaits some of them and many remain at large.
According to prosecutors, in 2008 Harrison became a member of the group, which authorities broke up in 2012. Among other things, the authorities said they found on his computer some 265 "compromised" debit and credit card account numbers. He is also accused of counterfeiting a Georgia driver's license for $330. The authorities said they seized from him "various items of identification and device making equipment."
Under Harrison's plea document, [PDF] the authorities maintain that Carder.su:
used various means of communication designed to protect the membership's anonymity and to provide security for the criminal enterprise from attack by other rival criminal organizations and from law enforcement detection, including the use of: various website forums and chatrooms controlled by the Carder.su organization, such as Carder.info, Carder.su, Crdsu.su, Carder.biz, and Carder.pro, as online gathering places which
provided secure meeting locations for the members and associates of the criminal enterprise; private messaging, which is a non-forum wide message sent between individual members on the criminal organization's website forums; e-mail, some of which are encrypted and password protected, or use service providers located outside of the United States; ICQ chat, which is a free instant messaging electronic communication service; proxies, which are achieved by bouncing from one computer to another to hide a member’s true originating IP address; Virtual Private Networks, which are similar to a proxy, but with the addition of creating an encrypted tunnel that cannot be monitored; and protected drop sites in the District of Nevada and elsewhere, in the event that there was a need to transport, transfer, and receive physical contraband.
What's more, the authorities described the organization as said, the enterprise:
a criminal enterprise that existed to enrich its members and associates through acts of identity theft and financial fraud, including, but not limited to, acts involving trafficking in stolen means of identification; trafficking in, production, and use of counterfeit identification documents; identity theft; trafficking in, production, and use of unauthorized and counterfeit access devices; and bank fraud; and whose members interfere with interstate and foreign commerce through acts of identity theft and financial fraud. The Carder.su organization facilitated the sale of contraband by its members, including counterfeit documents, stolen bank account and credit account information, and stolen personal identifying information.
reader comments
9