Almouder (25) suspected of international data theft and trade
Almouder (25) suspected of international data theft and trade
News item | 25-01-2023 | 3:00 PM
At the end of November 2022, the cybercrime team of the Amsterdam police arrested a 25-year-old man from Almere who is suspected of having stolen or traded personal data of tens of millions of people around the world.
The man came into the picture of the federal police in Austria who were investigating a dataset offered on a cybercrime forum where, among other things, stolen databases, credit card details, login details and other data were traded. In May 2020, a dataset was offered on this forum with millions of address and personal data from the Geburen Info Service GmbH (GIS), which collects the viewing and listening fees in Austria.
The Austrian Federal Criminal Investigation Service purchased the dataset through an undercover process. After extensive research into financial flows and the platform with which the data was sent, the Austrian Federal Investigation Service was able to trace an IP address that led to a residential address in Amsterdam.
International
In May of this year, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) in Vienna asked the Amsterdam OM to take over the criminal prosecution of the suspect. The cybercrime team of the Amsterdam police further investigated the data provided by Austria and the username 'used on the cybercrime forum.
The team has strong indications that the suspect operated under the username used and would have offered non-public personal data - including patient data from medical records - on the forum for a fee under that name for a long period of time.
This would not only concern sensitive data of Austrians. But also from people from other countries such as the Netherlands, Thailand, Colombia, China and the United Kingdom. The cyber crime forum has since been taken offline by foreign police and investigative services.
450 thousand euros cryptocurrency
The 25-year-old suspect was in full restraint until December 15. That is why the arrest was not previously reported.
The Public Prosecution Service now suspects him of four offences: possession or making non-public data available, possession of phishing software and hacker tools, computer trespass and habitual money laundering. The habitual money laundering concerns crypto currency transactions amounting to 450,000 euros in 2022.
On December 5, the council chamber of the Amsterdam court extended the pre-trial detention by 90 days. During searches in Almere and Amsterdam, the police found a large number of data carriers on which, among other things, phishing software and hacking tools were found.
At the moment, the financial and digital investigation is still in full swing.
Data trading
Hacked databases are traded for large sums of money on hacker forums and the dark web, for example. Due to the theft of large amounts of digital data, the combination of different databases and the trade in access to this data, more and more criminals know where someone lives, bank, what car someone has, what someone's password is, what telephone numbers someone has, where someone works , go to school, etc.
It is said that data is the new gold. Criminals have also discovered this digital gold.
Where it used to be necessary to observe for weeks in order to find the right victim, a push of a button is now sufficient.
This type of criminal activity not only grossly violates the privacy of millions of people, but also causes financial damage to individuals and companies. The police and the Public Prosecution Service are committed to combating this complex form of crime by detecting and prosecuting cybercriminals.
News item | 25-01-2023 | 3:00 PM
At the end of November 2022, the cybercrime team of the Amsterdam police arrested a 25-year-old man from Almere who is suspected of having stolen or traded personal data of tens of millions of people around the world.
The man came into the picture of the federal police in Austria who were investigating a dataset offered on a cybercrime forum where, among other things, stolen databases, credit card details, login details and other data were traded. In May 2020, a dataset was offered on this forum with millions of address and personal data from the Geburen Info Service GmbH (GIS), which collects the viewing and listening fees in Austria.
The Austrian Federal Criminal Investigation Service purchased the dataset through an undercover process. After extensive research into financial flows and the platform with which the data was sent, the Austrian Federal Investigation Service was able to trace an IP address that led to a residential address in Amsterdam.
International
In May of this year, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) in Vienna asked the Amsterdam OM to take over the criminal prosecution of the suspect. The cybercrime team of the Amsterdam police further investigated the data provided by Austria and the username 'used on the cybercrime forum.
The team has strong indications that the suspect operated under the username used and would have offered non-public personal data - including patient data from medical records - on the forum for a fee under that name for a long period of time.
This would not only concern sensitive data of Austrians. But also from people from other countries such as the Netherlands, Thailand, Colombia, China and the United Kingdom. The cyber crime forum has since been taken offline by foreign police and investigative services.
450 thousand euros cryptocurrency
The 25-year-old suspect was in full restraint until December 15. That is why the arrest was not previously reported.
The Public Prosecution Service now suspects him of four offences: possession or making non-public data available, possession of phishing software and hacker tools, computer trespass and habitual money laundering. The habitual money laundering concerns crypto currency transactions amounting to 450,000 euros in 2022.
On December 5, the council chamber of the Amsterdam court extended the pre-trial detention by 90 days. During searches in Almere and Amsterdam, the police found a large number of data carriers on which, among other things, phishing software and hacking tools were found.
At the moment, the financial and digital investigation is still in full swing.
Data trading
Hacked databases are traded for large sums of money on hacker forums and the dark web, for example. Due to the theft of large amounts of digital data, the combination of different databases and the trade in access to this data, more and more criminals know where someone lives, bank, what car someone has, what someone's password is, what telephone numbers someone has, where someone works , go to school, etc.
It is said that data is the new gold. Criminals have also discovered this digital gold.
Where it used to be necessary to observe for weeks in order to find the right victim, a push of a button is now sufficient.
This type of criminal activity not only grossly violates the privacy of millions of people, but also causes financial damage to individuals and companies. The police and the Public Prosecution Service are committed to combating this complex form of crime by detecting and prosecuting cybercriminals.
