Aleksei Burkov Pleads Guilty for running Online Criminal Marketplace

Story: Aleksei Burkov, 29 of St. Petersburg, Russia, has pleaded guilty in a US court to running a site that sold stolen payment card data and administering a highly secretive crime forum that counted among its members, some of the most elite Russian cybercrooks.

More Detail: Aleksei, who was extradited to the US from Israel in November, pleaded guilty on Thursday to running a website that helped people commit in credit-card fraud. He is accused of running a website that let people buy stolen credit-card numbers for anywhere from $3 to $60. People used the numbers to make more than $20 million in fraudulent purchases. Prosecutors say Burkov even offered a money-back guarantee if a stolen card number no longer worked.

Company: Aleksei admitted to running CardPlanet, a site that sold more than 150,000 stolen credit card accounts, and to being the founder and administrator of DirectConnection, an underground community that attracted some of the world’s most-wanted Russian hackers.

What did he plead guilty to? Access device fraud and conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, identity theft, wire fraud and money laundering.

Sentence: He faces a prison sentence of up to 15 years at his May 8 2020 sentencing.

More detail on this can be found at KrebsonSecurity

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