Dmitry Naskovets, the creator and operator of CallService.biz — an online business that assisted over 2,000 identity thieves in over 5,000 instances of fraud — was extradited from the Czech Republic on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, and aggravated identity theft. According to a press released issued by Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Naskovets, 26, consented to the extradition.
According to the Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court:
In June 2007, Naskovets, a Belarusian national, and coconspirator Sergey Semasko, also a Belarusian national who is charged by the Belarusians, created CallService.biz, an online business intended to assist identity thieves in exploiting stolen financial information, such as credit card and debit card numbers. Through the site, the two, in exchange for a fee, provided the services of English- and German-speaking individuals to persons who had stolen account and biographical information to beat security screening processes employed by financial institutions. The English and German speakers would, among other things, pose as authorized account holders and place telephone calls to financial institutions and other businesses to conduct or confirm fraudulent withdrawals, transactions, or other account activity on behalf of the web site users who were identity thieves. Using information provided by the identity thieves over the website, which was hosted on a computer in Lithuania, the fraudulent callers would, among other things, confirm unauthorized withdrawals or transfers from bank accounts, unblock accounts, or change the address or phone number associated with an account so that it could be accessed by the identity thieves.
The website posted advertisements for its services on other websites used by identity thieves, including
CardingWorld.cc, which was operated by Semashko. The advertisements boasted that the website had “over 2090 people working with” it and had “done over 5400 confirmation calls” to banks, referencing calls to defeat security screening procedures and confirm or conduct fraudulent transactions.
Naskovets was arrested by Czech enforcement authorities on April 15, 2010, at the request of the United States. Also on
April 15, 2010, in a joint operation, Belarusian law enforcement authorities arrested Semashko in Belarus and Lithuanian law enforcement authorities seized the computers on which the website was hosted. Belarusian authorities also arrested additional co-conspirators for related criminal conduct. In addition, the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation simultaneously seized the website domain name pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.
If convicted, Naskovets faces a maximum sentence of 39 and one-half years in prison.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York
Image credit: f-secure.jp took the screenshot of the domain having been seized.
Update 9-21: The Register also reports the extradition but doesn’t add any additional details.