Arrest
Police arrests 2 Phobos ransomware suspects, seizes 8Base sites
A global law enforcement operation targeting the Phobos ransomware gang has led to the arrest of two suspected hackers in Phuket, Thailand, and the seizure of 8Base’s dark web sites. The suspects are accused of conducting cyberattacks on over 1,000 victims worldwide. The arrested individuals, two Russian men, reportedly extorted $16,000,000 worth of Bitcoin from their […]
Spain arrests suspected hacker of US and Spanish military agencies
The Spanish police have arrested a suspected hacker in Alicante for allegedly conducting 40 cyberattacks targeting critical public and private organizations, including the Guardia Civil, the Ministry of Defense, NATO, the US Army, and various universities. Spanish media reports that the suspect was brought before a court and subsequently released after having his passport confiscated to prevent him […]
US charges Russian-Israeli as suspected LockBit ransomware coder
The US Department of Justice has charged a Russian-Israeli dual-national for his suspected role in developing malware and managing the infrastructure for the notorious LockBit ransomware group. According to a criminal complaint unsealed today in the District of New Jersey, Rostislav Panev, 51, a dual Russian and Israeli national, allegedly helped develop LockBit ransomware encryptors and a custom […]
Police shuts down Rydox cybercrime market, arrests 3 admins
Albanian law enforcement has seized the Rydox cybercrime marketplace and arrested three administrators in collaboration with international partners. Kosovo nationals Ardit Kutleshi, Jetmir Kutleshi, and Shpend Sokoli were arrested on Thursday by Kosovo law enforcement and Albania’s Special Anti-Corruption Body (SPAK). The U.S. Justice Department indicted the first two for involvement in Rydox’s operations, and they’re awaiting extradition to […]
Spain busts voice phishing ring for defrauding 10,000 bank customers
The Spanish police, working with colleagues in Peru, conducted a simultaneous crackdown on a large-scale voice phishing (vishing) scam ring in the two countries, arresting 83 individuals. Thirty-five of the arrested people were located across Spain, including in Madrid, Barcelona, Mallorca, Salamanca, and Vigo, and another 48 were arrested in Peru. The leader of the […]
Operation PowerOFF shuts down 27 DDoS-for-hire platforms
Law enforcement agencies from 15 countries have taken 27 DDoS-for-hire services offline, also known as “booters” or “stressers,” arrested three administrators, and identified 300 customers of the platforms. The action is part of ‘Operation PowerOFF,’ an international initiative to combat cybercrime, specifically distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. DDoS-for-hire services are platforms that utilize botnets on compromised […]
Cybercrime gang arrested after turning Airbnbs into fraud centers
Eight members of an international cybercrime network that stole millions of Euros from victims and set up Airbnb fraud centers were arrested in Belgium and the Netherlands. The action was announced by Europol, which coordinated the operation, involving 17 simultaneous searches in the two countries, taking place on December 3. The arrests were the culmination of investigations […]
Police shuts down Manson cybercrime market, arrests key suspects
German law enforcement has seized over 50 servers that hosted the Manson Market cybercrime marketplace and fake online shops used in phishing operations. Two main suspects (currently in pretrial detention) believed to be Manson Market’s operators have been arrested in Germany and Austria under European arrest warrants on Wednesday in an operation led by the […]
Police seizes largest German online crime marketplace, arrests admin
Germany has taken down the largest online cybercrime marketplace in the country, named “Crimenetwork,” and arrested its administrator for facilitating the sale of drugs, stolen data, and illegal services. The law enforcement action was carried out on Monday by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt am Main, the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT), and the Federal […]
Police seize Matrix encrypted chat service after spying on criminals
An international law enforcement operation codenamed ‘Operation Passionflower’ has shut down MATRIX, an encrypted messaging platform used by cybercriminals to coordinate illegal activities while evading police. It should be noted that MATRIX is a different entity from the secure open-source, decentralized, real-time communications protocol with the same name, which is perfectly legal to continue using. The […]