Credit Card Hacker Roman Seleznev Enters More Guilty Pleas

Russian hacker Roman Seleznev, in two separate cases, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of participating in a racketeering enterprise and also one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.

The 33-year-old Seleznev, who also goes by aliases Track2, Bulba, and Ncux, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 11. The DOJ was not immediately available to comment on the sentence it will seek.

It could add more time to the unprecedented 27-year prison sentence he received in April for credit card hacking. In the April case, Seleznev was convicted of 38 counts of hacking into point-of-sale computers to steal credit card data.

In the two most recent cases, a federal court in Georgia is overseeing his bank fraud conspiracy case and a Nevada federal court is handling the racketeering case.

In November 2008, Seleznev worked as a "casher" when he and other hackers attacked a Georgia company, which processed credit and debit card transactions. After infiltrating the company's computer system, the group made off with 45.5 million debit card numbers and stole $9.4 million from 2,100 ATMs across the globe, the DOJ says, noting the heist job was performed in less than 12 hours.

In the second case, Seleznev pleaded guilty to one count of "participation in a racketeering enterprise." As with the earlier April case, he was found to have teamed up with the international credit card and identification theft ring Carder.su in 2009. Carder.su provides a platform for members to sell compromised credit card data and counterfeit IDs on the dark web.

Seleznev joined Carder.su just as federal authorities had become aware of his identity and had begun to track his movements on the Carder.su marketplace.

The April case hit Seleznev for hacking point-of-sale computers at more than 500 US businesses and stealing more than $169 million from their customers by posting their credit card data on dark web sites. But in the recent Nevada case, federal agents went after his relationship with Carder.su.

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Seleznev engaged in high-volume sales of compromised credit card data and personal ID information to Carder.su members. He created an automated sales site that allowed Carder.su members to log in and purchase pilfered credit card data and advertised this site on Carder.su websites, according to the DOJ. Seleznev sold the compromised card account data for approximately $20 per account and the DOJ estimates victims lost at least $51 million as a result of the Carder.su ring's activities.

Seleznev shared information about Carder.su's processes and internal policies, noting the credit card crime ring required a recommendation from two members in good standing before a new member was allowed into the group. He also revealed that members communicated via email, chatrooms, private messaging systems, and virtual networks, all of which were encrypted, according to the DOJ report.

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