US authorities have announced the seizure of 13 Internet domains that were providing DDoS attack services to other criminals.
The removal is part of an ongoing international initiative called Operation PowerOFF, aimed at dismantling criminal DDoS infrastructure around the world.
The development comes almost five months after the December 2022 “cleanup” dismantled 48 similar services that urged paying users to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against targets of interest. It was done a month later.
According to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), this includes school districts, universities, financial institutions, and government websites.
Ten of the 13 fraudulent domains seized are “reincarnations” of booter or stressor services that were shut down late last year.
“Booter services have continued to proliferate in recent years due to the low barriers to entry for users seeking to engage in cybercriminal activities,” the DoJ said in a press release Monday.
“Attacks from booter services not only harm victims by interrupting or degrading their access to the Internet, but they also damage the Internet connections of other customers served by the same Internet Service Provider through shared connection points. can be completely disconnected.”
Alongside the seizure of the domain, DOJ also said four of the six indicted in December 2022 related to operating the service have entered guilty pleas.
Defendant – Jeremiah Sam Evans Miller, age 23, resides in San Antonio, Texas. Angel Manuel Colon Jr., 37, from Bellevue, Florida. Shamar Shattock, 19, from Margate, Florida. Cory Anthony Palmer, 23, of Lauderhill, Fla., is expected to be sentenced later this year.
Try2Check Card Check Service Down
The announcement comes just days after Try2Check (aka Try2Services) was suspended following a decade-long investigation. Try2Check was an illegal online platform that allowed attackers to check the status of stolen credit card numbers and determine if they were valid and active.
The DoJ also accused Denis Gennadievich Kulkov, a 43-year-old Russian citizen, of his role in creating the service and turning it into a “primary tool for illicit credit card transactions,” and the State Department issued a 1,000 offered a bounty of $10,000. lead to his arrest.
The agency is further expanding another bounty of up to $1 million for details that help identify other key leaders in the Try2Check cybercrime group.
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According to the indictment, the fraudulent platform allegedly abused the systems of a well-known US-based payment processor to perform card checks by abusing pre-authentication services. The company name was not disclosed.
Launched in 2005, Try2Check is estimated to process tens of millions of credit card checks each year, with several major cards like Joker’s Stash specializing in mass stolen credit card transactions. We’ve made it easier for you to run your shop. As of February 2022, the cost of a single card check is $0.20.
“During the illegal operation of his website, defendant earned at least $18 million in Bitcoin (and an unknown amount through other payment systems), which he used to purchase Ferraris and other luxury goods.” DOJ pointed out.
The indictment against Kurkov arrives just weeks after Denis Mikhakurovich Dabnikov, who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges for the Ryuk ransomware gang earlier this year, was sentenced to prison and ordered to confiscate $2,000 in illicit gains. Did.
