The U.S. authorities this week put a $10 million bounty on a Russian man who for the previous 18 years operated Try2Check, one of many cybercrime underground’s most trusted providers for checking the validity of stolen bank card knowledge. U.S. authorities say 43-year-old Denis Kulkov‘s card-checking service made him not less than $18 million, which he used to purchase a Ferrari, Land Rover, and different luxurious gadgets.
Denis Kulkov, a.ok.a. “Nordex,” in his Ferrari. Picture: USDOJ.
Launched in 2005, Try2Check quickly was processing greater than 1,000,000 card-checking transactions monthly — charging 20 cents per transaction. Cybercriminals turned to providers like this after buying stolen bank card knowledge from an underground store, with a watch towards minimizing the variety of playing cards which are inactive by the point they’re put to legal use.
Try2Check was so dependable that it will definitely grew to become the official card-checking service for a number of the underground’s most bustling crime bazaars, together with Vault Market, Unicc, and Joker’s Stash. Clients of those carding outlets who selected to make use of the store’s built-in (however a-la-carte) card checking service from Try2Check might anticipate computerized refunds on any playing cards that have been discovered to be inactive or canceled on the time of buy.
Many established stolen card outlets will permit clients to request refunds on useless playing cards primarily based on official reviews from trusted third-party checking providers. However on the whole, the larger outlets have steered clients towards utilizing their very own white-labeled model of the Try2Check service — primarily to assist reduce disputes over canceled playing cards.
On Wednesday, Could 3, Try2Check’s web sites have been changed with a website seizure discover from the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Division of Justice, as prosecutors within the Jap District of New York unsealed an indictment and search warrant naming Denis Gennadievich Kulkov of Samara, Russia because the proprietor.
Try2Check’s login pages have been changed with a seizure discover from U.S. legislation enforcement.
On the similar time, the U.S. Division of State issued a $10 million reward for info resulting in the arrest or conviction of Kulkov. In November 2021, the State Division started providing as much as to $10 million for the identify or location of any key leaders of REvil, a serious Russian ransomware gang.
As famous within the Secret Service’s legal criticism (PDF), the Try2Check service was first marketed on the closely-guarded Russian cybercrime discussion board Mazafaka, by somebody utilizing the deal with “KreenJo.” That deal with used the identical ICQ on the spot messenger account quantity (555724) as a Mazafaka denizen named “Nordex.”
In February 2005, Nordex posted to Mazafaka that he was available in the market for hacked financial institution accounts, and provided 50 p.c of the take. He requested companions to contact him on the ICQ quantity 228427661 or on the e mail tackle polkas@bk.ru. As the federal government famous in its search warrant, Nordex exchanged messages with discussion board customers on the time figuring out himself as a then-24-year-old “Denis” from Samara, RU.
In 2017, U.S. legislation enforcement seized the cryptocurrency alternate BTC-e, and the Secret Service stated these data present {that a} Denis Kulkov from Samara equipped the username “Nordexin,” e mail tackle nordexin@ya.ru, and an tackle in Samara.
Investigators had already discovered Instagram accounts the place Kulkov posted photos of his Ferrari and his household. Authorities have been capable of establish that Kulkov had an iCloud account tied to the tackle nordexin@icloud.com, and upon subpoenaing that discovered passport pictures of Kulkov, and effectively as extra pictures of his household and dear vehicles.
Like many different high cybercriminals primarily based in Russia or in nations with favorable relations to the Kremlin, the proprietor of Try2Check was not notably troublesome to hyperlink to a real-life id. In Kulkov’s case, it little doubt was important to U.S. investigators that they’d entry to a wealth of private info tied to a cryptocurrency alternate Kulkov had used.
Nevertheless, the hyperlink between Kulkov and Try2Check will be made — mockingly — primarily based on data which were plundered by hackers and printed on-line through the years — together with Russian e mail providers, Russian authorities data, and hacked cybercrime boards.
NORDEX
Kulkov posing along with his passport, in a photograph authorities obtained by subpoenaing his iCloud account.
In response to cybersecurity agency Constella Intelligence, the tackle polkas@bk.ru was used to register an account with the username “Nordex” at bankir[.]com, a now defunct information web site that was virtually customary studying for Russian audio system fascinated about information about numerous Russian monetary markets.
Nordex seems to have been a finance nerd. In his early days on the boards, Nordex posted a number of lengthy threads on his views concerning the Russian inventory market and mutual fund investments.
That Bankir account was registered from the Web tackle 193.27.237.66 in Samara, Russia, and included Nordex’s date of beginning as April 8, 1980, in addition to their ICQ quantity (228427661).
Cyber intelligence agency Intel 471 discovered that Web tackle additionally was used to register the account “Nordex” on the Russian hacking discussion board Exploit again in 2006.
Constella tracked one other Bankir[.]com account created from that very same Web tackle beneath the username “Polkas.” This account had the identical date of beginning as Nordex, however a distinct e mail tackle: nordia@yandex.ru. This and different “nordia@” emails shared a password: “anna59.”
NORDIA
Nordia@yandex.ru shares a number of passwords with nordia@listing.ru, which Constella says was used to create an account at a spiritual web site for an Anna Kulikova from Samara. On the Russian house furnishing retailer Westwing.ru, Ms. Kulikova listed her full identify as Anna Vnrhoturkina Kulikova, and her tackle as 29 Kommunistrecheskya St., Apt. 110.
A search on that tackle in Constella brings up a document for an Anna Denis Vnrhoturkina Kulkov, and the telephone quantity 879608229389.
Russian automobile registration data have additionally been hacked and leaked on-line through the years. These data present that Anna’s Apt 110 tackle is tied to a Denis Gennadyvich Kulkov, born April 8, 1980.
The automobile Kolkov registered in 2015 at that tackle was a 2010 Ferrari Italia, with the license plate quantity K022YB190. The telephone quantity related to this document — 79608229389 — is precisely like Anna’s, solely minus the (mis?)main “8”. That quantity is also tied to a now-defunct Fb account, and to the e-mail addresses nordexin@ya.ru and nordexin@icloud.com.
Kulkov’s Ferrari has been photographed quite a few instances through the years by Russian automobile aficionados, together with this one with the driving force’s face redacted by the photographer:
The Ferrari owned by Denis Kulkov, noticed in Moscow in 2016. Picture: Migalki.web.
Because the title of this story suggests, the onerous half for Western legislation enforcement isn’t figuring out the Russian cybercriminals who’re main gamers within the scene. Reasonably, it’s discovering inventive methods to seize high-value suspects if and once they do go away the safety that Russia usually extends to home cybercriminals inside its borders who don’t additionally hurt Russian corporations or shoppers, or intrude with state pursuits.
However Russia’s warfare towards Ukraine has precipitated main fault strains to look within the cybercrime underground: Cybercriminal syndicates that beforehand straddled Russia and Ukraine with ease have been compelled to reevaluate many comrades who have been all of the sudden working for The Different Facet.
Many cybercriminals who operated with impunity from Russia and Ukraine previous to the warfare selected to flee these nations following the invasion, presenting worldwide legislation enforcement businesses with uncommon alternatives to catch most-wanted cybercrooks. A kind of was Mark Sokolovsky, a 26-year-old Ukrainian man who operated the favored “Raccoon” malware-as-a-service providing; Sokolovsky was apprehended in March 2022 after fleeing Ukraine’s necessary navy service orders.
Additionally nabbed on the lam final yr was Vyacheslav “Tank” Penchukov, a senior Ukrainian member of a transnational cybercrime group that stole tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} over practically a decade from numerous hacked companies. Penchukov was arrested after leaving Ukraine to fulfill up along with his spouse in Switzerland.
