Websites That Listed More Than 20 Million Social Security Numbers For Sale, Seized And Dismantled In International Operation
Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg, along with Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon for the IRS - Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge David Walker for the FBI - Tampa Division, today announced the seizure of the SSNDOB Marketplace, a series of websites that operated for years and were used to sell personal information, including the names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers belonging to individuals in the United States. The SSNDOB Marketplace has listed the personal information for approximately 24 million individuals in the United States, generating more than $19 million USD in sales revenue.
The SSNDOB administrators created advertisements on darkweb criminal forums for the Marketplace’s services, provided customer support functions, and regularly monitored the activities of the sites, including monitoring when purchasers deposited money into their accounts. The administrators also employed various techniques to protect their anonymity and to thwart detection of their activities, including using online monikers that were distinct from their true identities, strategically maintaining servers in various countries, and requiring buyers to use digital payment methods, such as bitcoin.
The international operation to dismantle and seize this infrastructure is the result of close cooperation with law enforcement authorities in Cyprus and Latvia. On June 7, 2022, seizure orders were executed against the domain names of the SSNDOB Marketplace (ssndob.ws, ssndob.vip, ssndob.club, and blackjob.biz), effectively ceasing the website’s operation.
No comments:
Post a Comment