The United States prosecutors in Brooklyn shut down an underworld Web platform key to the trade in stolen credit cards, State Department said on Wednesday.
The website offers ID thieves to check if they can make charges with stolen credit card numbers.
And if you know where to find the site’s alleged operator, Russian citizen Denis Gennadievich Kulkov, 43, the State Department has a $10 million award for information leading to his capture.
Kulkov created the site Try2Check in 2005, and grew it into a premiere service for criminals who get their hands on batches of credit card numbers from such activities as using bogus card skimmers, federal authorities allege.
Kulkov made a small fortune, collecting some $18 million in bitcoin from his crooked customers — which he used to buy a Ferrari and other luxury goods, the feds say.
“Try2Check offers its users the ability to quickly determine the validity of a credit card number, either singly or in bulk; users can upload thousands of card numbers at a time and receive an immediate report as to which numbers are valid,” the feds allege in court filings.
Each check cost 14 cents in Bitcoin — but those pennies added up. The site performed at least 16 million checks over a nine-month stretch in 2018, and another 17 million over a 13-month period beginning in September 2021, the feds say.
Try2Check worked by hijacking a legitimate company’s “preauthorization” service — which allows businesses to determine if their customers have the funds or credit necessary to stay at a hotel, or afford a pending purchase.
Try2Check users’ illicit queries were checked via that legitimate company’s service, the feds allege.
Visitors to Try2Check’s websites will now find a page with the Department of Justice and Secret Service logos and the words, “This domain has been seized.”
“Today is a bad day for criminals who relied on the defendant’s platform as the gold standard to verify that the credit cards they stole from hard-working individuals living in the Eastern District of New York and across the world had value,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Wednesday.
Kulkov, who was indicted Wednesday on access device fraud, computer intrusion and money laundering charges, could face 20 years in prison if he’s arrested and convicted.
With reports from Yahoo News
An indictment unsealed on Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn charged Denis Gennadievich Kulkov with four counts of fraud, computer intrusion and money laundering conspiracy for operating Try2Check, which allegedly helped cybercriminals determine whether the credit card numbers they bought were valid and active.
Try2Check processed tens of millions of credit card numbers each year, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.
“Today is a bad day for criminals who relied on the defendant’s platform,” Breon Peace, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
Another $1-million was being offered for information identifying other key leaders in the group, the State Department said in a statement.