Published in News

Americans arrest another Russian hacker

by on09 July 2014

He is a Russian MP’s son

Relations between the US and the Russians took a complex turn after the Americans arrested the son of an Russian MP and charged him with hacking. Roman Seleznev, 30, faces charges of selling credit card information he stole by hacking into the computers of American retailers.

He was arrested overseas by the US Secret Service on July 5 and was ordered detained today during a hearing in federal court in Guam. The Justice Department said in a statement that Seleznev is the son of Valery Seleznev, a member of the Duma, Russia’s parliament.

Now one is saying where Seleznev was arrested, but Guam seems a good bet. He was indicted in March 2011 on charges of bank fraud and computer hacking. The indictment, which was unsealed today, alleged that Seleznev was part of a hacking scheme that operated between 2009 and 2011.

The indictment alleged that Seleznev and others stole more than 200,000 credit card numbers. During a three-month span ending in February 2011, the indictment alleges, Seleznev and others sold more than 140,000 credit card numbers in online forums, generating at least a $2 million profit. Losses to financial institutions hit by the hacking operation exceeded $1.2 million, the indictment say.

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