Four individuals believed to be members of the international cyber theft ring known as the “Infraud Organization” were arrested in Russia, news agency TASS reports.
Allegedly created in 2010 by Svyatoslav Bondarenko, of Ukraine, the cybercrime group was involved in the theft, sale, and dissemination of personally identifiable information (PII), credit card data, and malware, among others.
In 2018, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) announced charges against 36 individuals believed to be members of the crime ring, as well as the arrest of 13 individuals in Australia, France, Italy, Kosovo, Serbia, and the United Kingdom.
In 2020, Sergey Medvedev, of Russia, co-founder of Infraud Organization, pleaded guilty in a US court. He was sentenced in March last year, alongside Marko Leopard, of North Macedonia, also a member of the cybercrime ring.
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Last week, Russian authorities – Moscow’s FSB security agency included – arrested Andrey Sergeevich Novak, an alleged co-founded and leader of the organization. In 2018, the DoJ indicted Novak for his role in the group’s transnational racketeering conspiracy and on three other counts.
Three other individuals, namely Kirill Samokutyaev, Konstantin Vladimirovich Bergman and Mark Avramovich Bergman, are under house arrest, TASS reports.
Novak, who used the online monikers of “Unicc,” “Faaxxx,” and “Faxtrod,” is unlikely to be extradited to the United States, as Russian legislation prohibits that. Only foreign citizens wanted abroad may be extradited, following trial in Russia.
The move against the Infraud Organization is the second that Russian law enforcement has made against organized cybercrime since the beginning of this year.
Just over a week ago, the FSB announced the arrest of REvil hacking group members, who are allegedly responsible for multiple high-profile ransomware attacks, including those against software maker Kaseya and JBS USA.
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